Return
by AnomNOus
Summary: A long time has passed since Tabuu first attacked the smashers. Now, Tabuu has returned and has come for revenge against the smashers. After a devastating attack, only five of the smashers have survived. The choices they make will either lead them to victory or defeat.
1. Chapter 1

**Return**

Chapter 1

Beginnings of an Army

Ganondorf walked along the temple caverns. Since the defeat of Tabuu this had been one of his favorite places to be. He often was by himself. The heroes, especially Link, Toon Link, and Zelda, often avoided him, and Bowser hated him for shooting him with a dark cannon. Wario and Wolf didn't care much for him, but no one really liked Wario, or his smell. Wolf was the closest he had to a friend.

He reached the place where Red and Lucas faced off against Galleom. The hole that had been formed was still there. Ganondorf thought about what he had done for Tabuu. He also thought about what Master Hand had done to his powers. In order to be allowed into the world he was given Smash energy. This had however unfairly reduced his strength. It hurt other smashers by doing things like cutting Sonic's speed and limiting Link's items.

He sat down to get some rest, but he heard something above him. He looked up to see the Halberd again. What does Meta Knight want now, he thought. When it was directly above him, it stopped. Something lowered and pointed at the ground. A bit of energy charged at the tip. Before Ganondorf even had the thought of running, it fired.

* * *

Ganondorf woke up, staring down at the purple ground. He looked around at the sky and at the horizon. He looked for the sun, but it was nowhere to be seen. He was back in the Subspace realm.

"Nice of you to join me," a voice behind him said. Ganondorf turned to look at Tabuu fully healed with his wings fully grown. "You betrayed me."

Ganondorf swallowed his fear and mustered all the power he could. "I was always serving Master Hand."

"You were serving me. Your loyalty to him meant that you should have been just as loyal to me."

Ganondorf started taking steps back. "You aren't going to take your anger out on me, right? It was King Dedede's brooches that ruined your plans. I barely had anything to do with fighting you."

"If I had come to punish you, you would have remained as a trophy. I have brought you here so that you can help fix what you ruined."

"I will only serve Master Hand."

"Then you better listen." He formed a group of chains and gave a mighty tug on them. From behind him came Master Hand, followed by Crazy Hand. Tabuu dropped the chains and held out his arms. The Hands began to shake before sliding onto Tabuu's arms. "You are of no use to me alone. Bring me some more that may serve me."

"How will I get anyone to listen to a villain?"

Tabuu approached Ganondorf. "You want to live. You'll figure something out." He flicked Ganondorf, turning him into a trophy.

* * *

Ganondorf awoke seconds later to see a Dedede Brooch on his chest. It quickly fell apart into Subspace bugs. Ganondorf looked up to see that he had landed in the woods that led to Smash Mansion. He knew that Tabuu would find a way to get Ganondorf if he failed. He got up and brushed himself off. Then he headed for the Mansion.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Mansion

"65…66…67…68…69…70," Another competition was going on at the mansion, but it had nothing to do with fighting. Mario was keeping track of the scores everyone had. The five smashers were doing five different things. Link was chopping down sticks, Fox was shootings targets, Ike was lifting a ton (literally), Sonic was running 2-mile laps, and Kirby was eating six pound steak. Anyone who got behind was out.

"97…98…99…100," Mario said.

Pit, Olimar, Captain Falcon, and Red were watching from the sides. Ness, Lucas, Nana, Popo, and Toon Link had managed to get closer to the action. "Come on Link!" Toon Link shouted.

Ten minutes passed and the competing smashers began to slow down. "1028…1029…1030, can-a someone (1031) replace me, 1032," Mario said.

Luigi came down. "I-a got you bro. 1037…1038 …1039." Two minutes later someone finally lost. Diddy Kong had gotten bored and "accidentally" dropped a banana on the track. Sonic stepped right on it. Luigi shouted, "Sonic is out, 1124…1125." Soon, Link and Ike were both worn down to the point of losing, (both at the 1251 mark) leaving a showdown between Fox and Kirby.

Kirby grabbed another steak as Fox destroyed another target. They went on for three more minutes, letting Kirby start to learn what it's like to be full, while Fox's gun started to act crazy. "1541…1542…1543…1544…1545…154- WE-A HAVE A WINNER. THE-A WINNER IS-A… KIRBY!"

Fox quickly threw his gun to the side as it explode. He went over to Kirby. "Good job, I didn't think even you could eat that much." Kirby smiled with his eyes rolling acting really dizzy.

Over on the side, a figure stood in the shadow of a column. Wolf smiled as they attempted to carry Kirby away. Donkey Kong and Ike were having difficulties. He was treated slightly better than the three that had helped Tabuu, but people didn't like how he had helped so little when everything was all over. Since he was a villain and didn't help, he was somewhat cast out. He felt that Toon Link, Jigglypuff, and even Sonic should be cast out as much as he was.

He heard some steps on the stairs and turned to see Ganondorf coming up the steps. "Kirby has one crazy stomach. You should have seen how many steaks he ate."

Ganondorf looked distracted. He looked up at Wolf with sadness in his eyes. "I need your help."

Wolf knew that Ganondorf didn't ever joke. He looked up at him. "What is it?"

"The hands are missing. I need someone to come look for them with me."

"Well why don't we just get the others to go as well."

"The others won't trust us. Besides, wouldn't it look like we were heroes if we were able to save the Hands."

Wolf looked at the Kirby, who was starting to turn green. "I'm in."

Ganondorf gave a weak smile. "Then lets go."

* * *

Fox was looking at his usual gun, after putting it back together. Usually it didn't freak out so bad that it exploded. He had figured it would have been a showdown between him and Sonic. The door opened and Mario, Luigi, Link, Ike, Sonic, Pikachu, Samus, Falco, Pit, and Red came in. Falco sat down next to Fox. "I heard you lost," he said.

Fox continued to examine his gun. "The first thing that you want to bring up is the fact that I lost. You didn't even care enough to watch the thing."

"You lost to Kirby."

"Yeah but you have to give him credit," Red said. "Kirby has never felt stuffed in his life. Until now."

"Remember the time when Ike challenged Kirby to a pie eating contest," Pit said. "Ike didn't eat for a week preparing for that day, and Kirby still ate five times as many pies as him."

"Everyone has limits," Ike said. "I didn't think it would be so difficult to discover Kirby's. Besides, remember when you challenged everyone to show who the master of the skies was. It didn't take long for Fox's Arwing to shoot you out of the skies."

"That was an unfair competition," Pit said.

"I'll say." Sonic said. "The only fliers are you, Meta Knight, and Charizard."

"Well it wouldn't be fair if you challenged people to a race."

"At least everyone here can run."

"The world's fastest hedgehog thinks a race would be fair," Ike said.

"Master Hand reduced my speed."

"You still are the fastest person here."

"Well at least he-a didn't try to out eat Kirby," Mario said.

Samus smiled as she continued to pet Pikachu. Link smiled as well from his spot. "You know," Link said. "Is there really much of a reason to stick around here."

They all turned to him. "What-a do you mean?" Mario asked."

They all knew that when Link spoke, it was a good idea to listen. "I mean that we all have places that we belong. Mushroom Kingdom may be happy that they don't have to deal with Bowser's army, but the people need their princess and their heroes. Samus can pick up a bounty whenever she feels like it, but Star Fox needs its pilots as well as its leader. Some of us can stay without having to worry about other things, but some of us do need to get going."

They all looked at each other. Samus, Pikachu, and Red were free to do whatever they wanted, but the rest were a part of something that they couldn't leave. Maybe Ike could finish his work, and Star Fox could disband, but Link knew that he had duties in Hyrule and that he might soon be needed.

Luigi turned to look at his brother. "What-a do you think, bro?"

Mario looked at him. "The-a kingdom will need its princess again soon."

Sonic smiled. "And I will need to make sure Tails has been staying out of trouble, as well as giving Eggman some."

Pit looked around the room. "When do you think we should tell the Hands?"

"We should tell them soon so that we can get it over with," Fox said. Link and the others agreed. He hoped that the ones that were staying would do alright. He figured the kids would stay, as well as ROB, Yoshi, Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, and Ganondorf, which was good for him. He may not like Ganondorf, but he held a part of the Triforce, and anyone who was able to hold a part of the Triforce, deserved respect.

A thought came to his mind that he should have thought about earlier. "Has anyone seen the Hands?" he asked.

* * *

Lucario sat on his perch at the top of the mansion. Something was happening. Ganondorf had appeared out of nowhere and a weird aura had come from his chest when his aura first appeared. Recently, he had been unable to detect the auras of the hands as well. He had searched everywhere within his range.

The weirdest part was that he had sensed the Halberd flying around in the skies lately. He knew Meta Knight had no idea where it was, so who could possibly de flying it around now. He could see the Halberd now. It was flying directly above where Wolf and Ganondorf had walked. He suddenly saw Ganondorf warlock punch Wolf. Ganondorf climbed on board the Halberd and flew off with a Wolf trophy.

Lucario examined the deck of the Halberd. He was able to make out the distinct aura of subspace. He knew that he had to warn the others. As he thought so, he felt a blow to the back of his head. He turned to see a subspace clone of Ganondorf after he had charged up his warlock punch.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Betrayals

Wolf woke up, looking around at the room that he was in. He had been told about what Subspace looked like, and the place was exactly how he thought it would look. He could hear a powerful ominous voice speaking. "You were right about capturing Lucario, but you only brought me one other. If I hadn't sent your clones to gather up Ridley, Porky and Petey Piranha, it wouldn't be possible to defeat the other smashers."

Wolf heard Ganondorf next. "My lord, I gathered someone that has no connections to you as well as being trustworthy."

Wolf walked over to see Ganondorf conversing with Tabuu wearing Master and Crazy Hand. He had faced Tabuu many times in boss battle, but the real thing was scarier than anything else he has ever faced. They both turned to Wolf. "Ah, it seems as if our guest has finally awoken."

Wolf turned to Ganondorf. "What are you doing?"

Ganondorf just sighed. "When you're a villain, you tend to figure out what will keep you alive." He looked at Tabuu, who nodded. "My master is in need of more that will be willing to serve him. Unfortunately for me, because of my past, no one would ever be willing to trust me. You would have greater success in gathering supporters."

Wolf back and forth between Ganondorf and Tabuu. "What if I refuse?" he said.

Ganondorf looked down at the ground. "You're a villain. You know what will keep you alive." Ganondorf turned back to Tabuu, "How do you plan on opening the vault? It has been built with the ability to detect subspace clones."

Tabuu smiled. "I have been working on things to change the subspace forms." He looked at Wolf. "You may want to gather me some followers."

Wolf looked around a little and then nodded. "How do I get back though?"

Tabuu floated over to him. He flicked him in the head. As Wolf turned into a trophy, Tabuu formed a Dedede Brooch and placed it on Wolf's chest. He then grabbed the trophy and flung him out of the subspace. He turned back to Ganondorf. "Now, about opening the vault, I have been improving the subspace. A demonstration perhaps."

He floated over to an area with tables and other things. It had stuff that was similar to what you would find in a laboratory. Over to the side stood the trophy of Lucario. "I have been perfecting the Subspace. Eliminating the possibilities of signs with the exception of Lucario's Aura abilities. Now the vault won't be able to sense the subspace. I have created a new form of subspace. A subspace mist."

He turned to the trophy and held out his hand. A mist formed and approached the trophy. When it was there, it sank into the trophy. The trophy glowed and soon Lucario was standing there. He turned to Tabuu and bowed. "I await your orders, my master," he said.

Tabuu smiled. "And this isn't even the ultimate Subspace form I am attempting to create."

* * *

Back at the mansion, most of the smashers had gone to the meeting room to talk about the disappearance of the hands. The villains and the kids weren't there, as usual, but Ness decided that he wanted to go. Yoshi, Kirby, Diddy Kong, and Jigglypuff also weren't attending the meeting. Everyone knew that Pikachu went just to be with Samus. The oddest part was that there had been no sign of Lucario, who had made it a habit to go to every single meeting.

Mario stood at the front of the room, being the person that people looked up to the most. "We-a have a bit of a crisis," he said. "We have-a discovered, thanks to an-a observation made-a by Link, that-a both Master-a and-a Crazy Hand have been missing for some-a-time. Does-a anyone recall the-a most a-recent time they-a saw the Hands?"

Pit stood up first, "The last I remember seeing the Hands was a little over a week ago."

Mario smiled. "A week-a. That isn't horrible. Can-a anyone recall-a anything more-a recently."

Red stood up, "Two days ago…"

"NO FAIR." Pit said shooting out of his chair, "You're making that up. You're just trying to beat me."

"Pit," Mario said. "This-a is a serious meeting."

"He's right," Red said. "This is serious"

"Then sit down if it isn't true," Pit said. Red stared hard at Pit, and then took his seat. Pit looked at the rest of the people there with a large grin on his face. "I win," he said, taking his seat.

Zelda was next to stand. "I remember seeing them leave for a journey five days ago. They said they had noticed some strange activity where the Isle of the Ancients once was." ROB immediately saddened with the mention of his old home.

Olimar stood up. "Princess Zelda, the isle is gone. Did they say why they wanted to go there?"

Zelda shook her head. "All I know is that was the last time I saw either of them."

The others sat there thinking of why they might go over there. It was Samus chuckling that brought people back to reality. "Honestly, I thought that Triforce of Wisdom would have allowed you to figure it out.

Zelda started turning red. "And you do?"

"Of course. That was where we went to face off against Tabuu. Thousands of Subspace bombs went off there. It might serve as a connection to the realm of subspace. A gateway."

The red from Zelda's cheeks began to leave. "A gateway that could allow Tabuu to return."

"Exactly." Samus stood up, causing Pikachu to fall from her lap. She turned to Mario. "May I move to the front?" Mario nodded and she walked over. "If Tabuu survived, he is likely to try something again. We nearly lost when he caught us all. If he returns, he most likely won't be afraid to try and capture us all again. He has lost some things, but we lost the element of surprise. Either he has come out, or the hands are trying to imprison him again."

Zelda looked at Samus. "Then it may be a good idea to keep a watch on the villains."

"The villains were under the impression they were working for Master Hand. They won't help Tabuu."

"The villains are going to be willing to sell us out if it keeps them alive. They will if that's the case."

King Dedede stood up. "When you say villains, you aren't talking about me or Meta Knight right?"

Zelda and Samus shook their heads. King Dedede smiled and sat back down. Ness suddenly stood up. "Hey is that what happened to Meta Knight's ship."

Meta Knight looked at Ness. "That would be a possible explanation."

Ness smiled, knowing that he was able to contribute to the group. Mario stood back up. "Well-a, I'm-a sorry to-a suggest this, but if Tabuu got-a the Halberd, could he-a have also a-gotten Lucario?"

"If he did then he isn't alone anymore," Marth said

* * *

Tabuu (still wearing the hands) and Ganondorf watched as Wolf came flying in with Wario and Bowser trophies. As they were dropped off, Tabuu sent the subspace mist at them. The mist entered them and quickly left. Ganondorf looked at Tabuu. "Sir, why did you need to do that?"

Tabuu watched the mist float away. "In case I lose one of you."

Wolf landed the Wolfen and asked, "Doesn't the mist need a trophy for it to work?"

Tabuu smiled. "I'm working on it. Now bring them to life."

Wolf walked first to the Wario trophy. When he touched the base, the revived Wario started going, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Huh? How did I get here? First Wolf is trying to kill me and then…" He stopped when he turned and saw Wolf, Ganondorf, and Tabuu. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"Shut up, and wake up Bowser," Tabuu said.

Wario turned to the Bowser trophy and revived him. Bowser looked around angry. His anger turned to fear when he saw Tabuu. "You can't be alive. I can't be here."

Tabuu looked at Wario and Bowser. "You two served me loyally. Why did you decide to betray me and try to kill me?" Bowser and Wario looked at Wolf and Ganondorf, who wouldn't make eye contact. Tabuu continued, "I am giving you a chance to redeem yourselves. A chance to recognize the mistakes you made in betraying me."

Master Hand suddenly spoke up. "Don't listen to him. After he opens the vault, he'll…ahhhhh." Electricity began surging through the glove.

Tabuu stared at the two. "What will you do?"

Bowser walked forward. "If we do this, we'll betray all the others."

"You don't seem to understand. You will serve me no matter what. Lucario!" Lucario came in bowing before Tabuu. "The choice you get is whether you serve me willing or through force."

Bowser and Wario looked at each other. They nodded and Bowser turned back to Tabuu. "I guess we don't have much of a choice."

Tabuu smiled. "Good. Set the trap. Let me get ready for my temporary appearance."

* * *

The smashers looked all around the mansion, trying to get some idea as to where Lucario and the villains were. Fox and Falco had flown around in the air and saw no signs, but they were fairly sure another ship had been close by quite recently. Olimar and his pikmin had spread out through the forest. Peach had checked the garden, while Kirby searched the cafeteria (for Lucario, and food). The kids had checked the entire mansion, and Sonic wasn't having any success.

Meta Knight talked through the radio in the main control room. In there he had Samus and Link checking cameras to see if they could find anything. Zelda, Pit, and Snake were going through the camera recordings of the last few days. The cameras covered most of the mansion. It only missed the bathroom, the garden, the roof, and a few other small areas. All they had seen was Ganondorf and Wolf going out for a walk.

As they continued looking, Sonic suddenly buzzed in. "Guys I heard something, in my head."

"Sonic, this is serious," Meta Knight said

"I'm not crazy. Come to where I'm at. I'm at the abandoned zoo, right next to the old fish exhibit. He says the villains are attacking him."

"Got that." Meta Knight switched the radio so everyone else could hear. "Guys we have a lead."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Zoo

The smashers were all assigned certain areas of the zoo to check. DK and Diddy Kong were sent to the primates (odd how that worked out), Sonic, Pikachu and Samus went to check hedgehogs and rodents (are hedgehogs rodents?), Link and Fox checked the canines (Twilight Princess), Falco and Pit checked the birds (self explanatory), Nana and Popo checked the polar bears and penguins (pretty easy to figure out), Yoshi and Red checked the reptile exhibit (I think Yoshi is a dino, and Red has Squirtle and Charizard) etc. etc. (I ran out of ideas).

Meta Knight buzzed in to tell Fox and Falco that they should be checking things out in the air. Fox ran off telling Link, "Good luck," Before flying off in his Arwing. Falco and Fox flew over the zoo. They saw no trace of the villains or Lucario. They started spreading out further and further until the zoo was barely in sight.

Falco called Fox. "We are getting way too far out, and I can't connect with Meta Knight or any of the others."

"Agreed. It would probably be best if we turned around and told them we weren't able to find anything. Fox and Falco started turning back, when lasers started flying past their Arwings.

The bullets blasted Fox's wing and shot down Falco. Fox looked behind him to see the Wolfen chasing him. Wolf's voice came through the radio. "Tabuu want the smashers stopped, and I can't let you jeopardize the mission." He shot at Fox again. Fox barrel rolled out of the way, with parts flying off of his damaged right wing.

Fox's Arwing started climbing. Why was Fox so important to stop? "What have you done to Lucario?"

Wolf's voice came through. "Tabuu has made sure that his betrayal is impossible. He will be loyal to Tabuu forever."

"You sound pretty loyal yourself. I doubt he's paying you though."

"Don't you realize he has the capability of destroying us. He'll make sure to destroy your friends." At that moment, Fox realized two different things. Wolf had locked onto him, and the zoo was a trap.

He launched himself out of the Arwing just as Wolf started firing at the Arwing. Fox watched as his Arwing exploded. The ground started getting closer. When it was only a hundred feet away, he pulled the chute. He looked around for where the zoo might be. When he believed he knew where, he ran off. He had to warn the others.

* * *

Mario and the other smashers stood around Meta Knight, who was having difficulty making contact with Fox and Falco. They had all seen the explosions, and were now talking about what to do. Samus suggested sending a group to where the explosions had taken place. The majority, however, thought that it would be good idea to see if they would return, or if Lucario would talk to someone again.

"That isn't a good idea," Samus said.

"She's right, they probably know that we are here," Zelda said.

"Well it was a 21 to 7 vote." Red said.

"And if Fox or Falco are alright, they will come here first," Peach said.

"What if others come to get the rest of us?" Zelda said

"Others already have come," a voice above them said. They looked up to see Tabuu wearing the hands.

"Y-you aren't able to leave the subspace realm," Pit stammered.

"It appears as if I can." Some smashers prepared for battle, while others began to run. They were quickly surrounded by Galleom, Duon, Porky, and Petey Piranha. The gaps in between were blocked by Ganondorf, Bowser, Wario, and Lucario. In the sky, Wolf and his Wolfen came down, along with Ridley. "Now, I believe you have sealed my army in a vault. Since you are the keys, I am going to need you."

Link bent down to Mario, "Flip the Mario M, wait for signal, and rush him. Pass it on." Link walked up to Tabuu, "What if we're not willing to go with you?"

Tabuu just stood (floated) there as thousands of bugs began to fall from the Halberd. Meta Knight murmured softly, "My ship."

The bugs formed hundreds of primids. "You will come, no matter how hard you try to do otherwise. Besides, it seems as if Lucario is willing to help me." They all turned and looked at him. Tabuu continued, "What do you say?"

Link stared at Tabuu for a little. He finally said "RUN!" Every smasher started running at Wario, who began screaming again.

Tabuu shouted, "Get them!" Immediately, all the villains and primids started swarming the smashers. The majority got separated and dragged off.

* * *

Meta Knight flew over the crowd of primids. He saw Pit attempting to do the exact same thing, until Ridley swooped in and grabbed him. He saw a group of primids headed toward a frightened Lucas. He drilled into the group. As he killed the last one, he turned to Lucas and shouted "Go!" Meta Knight continued to hack away at the primids, hoping to give Lucas enough time. He felt something grab him, and throw him into one of Petey's cages. Before he could break out, Petey smashed the cage into the ground.

* * *

Sonic and Captain Falcon got to one end of the zoo. "Come on lets go." Sonic spin dashed a few primids, while Captain Falcon falcon punched Ganondorf before he could charge a warlock punch. Another set of primids started surrounding Sonic, until something started blasting them.

Sonic turned to see Fox standing there with his gun. He threw something at Sonic. "Use this to keep in touch."

"You're not coming with us."

He shook his head. "I'll see who else I can help." Sonic nodded and ran off, followed closely by Captain Falcon.

* * *

A large group had been able to make it out of the main part of the primids. Samus and Link led the group, with Kirby and Pikachu right behind, followed by Mario and Ness. When they were nearly out of the zoo, something large stood in their way. They looked to see Galleom. He looked down on them, getting ready to slam on them.

They all rolled out of the way. Samus hit it with a fully charged blast, while Link shot it with an arrow, followed by a bomb. Kirby smacked it with a hammer. Mario jumped to smack it in the face, but was hit by one of Galleom's arms. Ness continued to blast it with PK fire, and Pikachu continued to hit with lightning. Galleom got some rockets ready to fire as Samus hit it with another charge shot. It fired the rockets, making contact with Pikachu and Kirby.

They suddenly heard a noise behind them. They turned to see Fox taking on a swarm of primids. "Mario, Link, Pikachu. You guys take on the primids, while the rest of us finish off Galleom." Link let one final arrow fly before running at the primids and throwing a bomb into the middle of them. Pikachu skull bashed the nearest one as it was approaching Link. Mario fireballed a few before beginning to beat them up.

Meanwhile, the ones fighting Galleom were making some progress. Kirby had managed to smack Galleom a few more times before being thrown away. Samus kept on landing charge shots and missles. Galleom finally turned into a tank and charged her. Ness PK thundered and PK fired a few times, always staying as far back as he could. Fox continued to fire at it from a distance. Galleom seemed to have gotten fed up. He made a gigantic leap, and landed on top of all four.

Fox and Samus looked at Kirby and Ness, who had both been turned to trophies. They tried to wiggle out, but didn't make any progress. Galleom raised his foot to stomp on them again, when Mario ran up and smashed him in the face. Galleom staggered off before finally collapsing.

Link and Pikachu ran over. They saw a purple mist start heading toward the trophies. They quickly touched the base before the mist reached them. Mario, Link, and Pikachu pulled the four of them out as another swarm went to attack.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Survivors

The group found an old building and snuck in. Fox searched the house to make sure it wasn't another trap. He gave an all clear, and the smashers relaxed. "Who do we know hasn't been caught?" Link asked.

"I made contact with Sonic and Captain Falcon," Fox said. "We may want to come up with a few things to distinguish us from a clone."

"Like a code?" Samus said.

"Yeah," said Sonic through the radio. "If the world and our lives are in danger, we might as well do what we can to remain upbeat."

"Sonic this-a is serious," Mario said.

"Exactly, which is why I'm trying to get you guys to loosen up. I want my name to be 'Chili Dog'.

"Poyo poy po po," Kirby said.

"I have no idea what that means."

"Kirby says he wants to be called 'Star'," Fox said.

"How do you say that in Kirby?" Sonic asked.

"Po po."

"Got it."

"Pika pi pi PIKA," Pikachu said. As he finished, a cloud formed and shot down a bolt of lightning.

"Pikachu wants to be lightning," Samus said. "I'll be Metroid."

"Twilight," Link said.

"Fireball," Mario said.

"Onett," Ness said

"James," Fox said.

"Captain Falcon says he wants to be Blue," Sonic said. "Oh, and I thought if someone is caught, then they have 'spaced out'. Good, right?"

"So do we know of anyone else that might not have gotten caught?" Samus asked.

"I saw Lucas escape," Fox said. "Maybe him."

"No luck there," Sonic said. "I saw his trophy being carried off. Oh, some more primids. They brought roaders. Got to go."

Samus looked at the others. "We may want to go as wel…"

The wall exploded, pinning Samus under some extremely large pieces of the wall. Snake smiled as he put his rocket launcher away. He walked into the room, followed by bytans, which continued to create more and more. Samus launched a charge shot at Snake, sending him flying away. Marth and Pit quickly rushed in to replace Snake. Link clashed swords with Marth while Pikachu and Kirby teamed up on Pit.

Fox blasted through the middle of the primids group, quickly moving back out of the way. Mario launched some fireballs and then attacked the bytans. Ness Started using PK fire to keep as many primids as he could away from him. Samus continued to offer support using her projectiles.

Link and Marth, however, were quickly wearing each other down. Link parried some of the blows that Marth was making. Link shield bashed Marth, then grabbed and threw him with the claw shot. Marth rolled behind Link as he tried to get him again. Before Link could turn, Marth landed a few quick blows on Link. Link rolled away before it became too much. He then grabbed a bomb and threw it right at Marth. Marth began looking dazed, giving Link the opportunity to finish Marth off.

Pikachu skull based pit again as he tried to defeat Kirby. Pit turned and shot Pikachu with an air while Pikachu was still going. Kirby took advantage of this and hit Pit with the final cutter. Before Pit could recover, Kirby landed multiple quick punches, and launched him with the hammer. As he flew over Pikachu, Pikachu called down lightning.

The primids battle, however, was turning into a losing battle, Mario was sent back again, Fox had to keep moving to stay out of reach, and Ness was nearly surrounded. Ness jumped and used PK thunder to get out of the bad spot. "We can't win this," Ness said. "They'll keep sending more."

"Then you guys get out of here," Samus said.

Pikachu walked over to Samus. "Pika pik pika."

Samus just pet him after firing another missle, "I'm sorry, but someone will need to stay, and I'm stuck."

"One person won't be enough," Link said.

"Pi," Pikachu said.

"No," Samus said. "I have to stay. You're not going down as well."

"I will," Ness said.

"You're-a only a kid," Mario said.

"If that means I can't help, then I won't be able to do much later. Just trust me."

Mario looked at him hard and sighed. "I'm-a sorry." Mario turned to the others. "Lets-a go."

Ness smiled as the others ran off. He turned to the primids as he pulled out his yo-yo. He smacked the closest ones across the face. Some of the ones closing in were hit with a PK fire. He continued to get support from Samus. Ness pulled out a bat and smacked one that had gotten really close. He then used PK flash on a nearby group of bytans. He started taking steps back as he realized Samus would soon be overwhelmed. He used a few PK fire moves and used his yo-yo some more. He put all of his energy in a powerful PK flash, brining him to a knee, but they kept coming.

Samus turned to him and shot at him with a partially charged charge shot. Ness dusted himself off and watched as Samus launched missles at different parts of the house, causing it to collapse on her and many primids.

Ness felt a finger on his shoulder. He turned to see Ike, who smacked him across the chest and sent him flying into the middle of a group of primids. He tried using his PK abilities to get out, but the primids were too much, and he let out one final scream.

* * *

Link sighed as he climbed down the tree. He looked at the others, who were watching him patiently. He looked at them and shook his head. They were all sad, but Pikachu took it the worst. He broke down. "Well," Fox said. "We better find a safe place so we can make contact with 'Chili Dog'. Link, you take the front. Mario, carry Pikachu and watch the left. Kirby, watch the right. I'll guard the back."

"Well-a, where are we-a going to go?" Mario said.

"The caves near King Dedede's fortress," Link said.

"Then lets-a go." They ran off while Pikachu continued to cry. They reached the cave entrance and found a place where they could stay. Fox grabbed the radio. "Chili Dog, can you hear me."

They got static at first, but eventually heard a voice. "Yeah, Chili Dog here, how's it going James."

"Bad. We lost Metroid and Onett."

"I'm not doing much better. Blue has spaced out."

"Well we need to team up. Meet us at the temple."

"Got it. Stay safe."

Fox set the radio on the ground. Mario just stared at him. "I don't-a think that the temple is a good idea."

"Well we all know exactly where that is. Most areas are too general to know exactly where to meet."

"But the-a temple could be considered a fortress. Tabuu may have-a already claimed it. We should-a have told him to-a come here instead of having to…"

The radio came on, and Sonic's voice started coming through. "S-s-sorry. They had a-already got us. Ch-chili Dog has sp-spaced out. Aahhhhh."

* * *

On the other side of the radio, Tabuu lifted Sonic off his feet. "Impressive. You were able to resist the mist for a little. Who do you serve?"

Sonic looked him straight in the face. "I have no master, except the wind that blows free."

Tabuu grabbed his head and smashed him into the ground. He turned into a trophy, allowing more mist to enter into him. Ganondorf walked over and touched the base. Sonic collapsed onto the ground, grabbing his side. Tabuu picked him up again. "Who do you serve?"

"I-I s-s-serve. Aaahhh." Sonic grabbed his head. When he finished screaming, he let go of his head, let his arms fall to his side, and looked straight at Tabuu. "I serve you, master."

Tabuu smiled and looked at Ganondorf. "Gather up the others and prepare to leave. We'll look for the others later. Right now, I need to return to the subspace."

* * *

The group just stared at the radio. Finally, Fox eventually voiced the thoughts that they all had. "We are the only ones left."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A Plan

Fox had left Link with the others. He looked at the group assembled in the cave. Mario pet a weeping Pikachu, while Kirby sat in the corner, curled in a ball. Link couldn't believe that Ganondorf would side with Tabuu. Now, Zelda, Toon Link, Luigi and nearly everyone else were gone.

Link heard footsteps coming down the tunnel. He grabbed his sword and shield and stood up to see Fox coming back. Link didn't relax. "Stop," Link said. Fox stopped where he was. "Mario, come with me. Let's make sure Fox isn't a clone."

"I'm not a clone," Fox said.

"We can't take that chance," Link said.

"I suppose your right." Fox stood there as Link and Mario tied him up. Link searched him to make sure there wasn't some kind of homing device.

When Mario and Link finished tying Fox up, Mario went back to Pikachu and continued comforting him. Link put his stuff back on the ground. "The radio is gone."

Fox nodded. "They can't use that to track us now."

"So did you find out anything else?"

"They have been able to gather all the other smashers. Most of them were taken away on the Halberd, but some of them are being sent to a lair in the cliffs."

"How many are there?"

"Eight, seven. But there are a few problems. I don't know exactly where the lair is along the cliffs. Also, the longer we wait, the more of the smashers that will get taken away. The final problem is that Lucario is keeping watch of the trophies being taken away."

Link picked up his stuff. "Then we better come up with a plan." Without warning, he stabbed Fox right through the chest. Fox let out a scream as the others turned to Link. Link finished by adding a slash all the way across his chest.

The statue of Fox appeared, still with the ropes attached. Mario turned to Link. "What are you-a doing?" Link continued to stare at the trophy. A few more seconds passed before Link finally touched the base.

Fox stared all around the room. "Why did you do that?"

"Making sure you weren't a clone."

"Well it doesn't matter if you try that with someone who has been taken over by that mist."

"How exactly do you know this?"

"I found the Snake trophy after Samus shot him. I was going to bring him back when I realized that the purple mist was coming off of him."

Link looked at Mario, who nodded. Link put his sword away and untied Fox. "Well, you're the strategist. What's the plan?"

Fox rubbed his wrist as he thought about it. "The most important thing that we can do is to get rid of Lucario. We can't save the others until we save him. After that we take one of the ships carrying the trophies into Tabuu's lair."

"Well-a how do we-a get past Lucario." Mario said.

"Lucario will most likely only think about watching the largest group he finds. He makes sure to check all sides, however. The best thing we can do is go with a group of four. Link can get his attention with an arrow or bomb. Link can stay where he is while the other three charge Lucario. He'll be guarded by primids and won't likely contribute. The fifth will try to eliminate Lucario."

"Then we need to decide on who the fifth is," Link said.

"Poyo."

The group turned to Kirby. "Are you sure?" Fox asked.

"Po."

* * *

Link used his claw shot to grab the branch of a nearby tree. He shot up to the branch and pulled himself up. Link kept doing this until he was near the top. He looked out over the trees to see where Lucario was. Lucario was on the roof of a small building. Primids came out of the building, carrying the trophy of the ice climbers. Link pulled out an arrow and pulled back on the string. When Lucario had nearly turned to face Link, he let the arrow go.

The arrow lodged into the head of one of the primids. Lucario looked around to where Link was. "Smashers! Get the ice climbers out of here!" The primids nodded and quickly ran off with the ice climbers. Link let another arrow fly, but an aura ball stopped it. Mario, Fox, and Pikachu ran out into the opening. Hundreds of primids came from the building. Pikachu jumped over a small group and called down lightning. After the group was hit, Pikachu quickly moved back. Fox pulled out his gun while Pikachu shot out electricity and Mario used fireballs. Behind them, Link continued to fire arrows.

Sword primids moved to the front of the lines. Mario ducked under one sword and jumped over another before slamming a primid into the ground. He punched another one a few times before kicking it. Fox got another one stuck in a fury of kicks. Pikachu skull bashed one that came in from behind Fox.

All the while, Lucario watched from his perch. Kirby slowly floated down from the skies behind Lucario. He gave one final jump before landing softly on his feet. Lucario didn't seem to notice anything. Kirby crept up behind Lucario as he continued to look down on the people below. Kirby pulled out his hammer. He pulled it back, and Lucario gave a hard kick behind him. Kirby rolled off the roof screaming, "WAAAH!"

Lucario jumped down from the roof. "FOOLS!" he said. "Did you think I wasn't aware of there being five of you?"

Link looked around where he was. He saw a close by tree and used his claw shot to reach it. He continued to do this, getting closer to where the fighting was happening.

Mario turned to the approaching Lucario. He used a few fireballs that barely made him flinch. He moved behind a few primids and charged an aura sphere. Fox started firing at him after he defeated a few more primids. A primid got behind Fox and smacked him in the back. Fox turned and started fighting the primid. Lucario took advantage of the moment and threw the aura sphere. Fox turned right as the sphere made contact.

Lucario turned to Pikachu as Pikachu used skull bash. Before Pikachu made contact, Lucario used double team and disappeared. Pikachu turned around waiting for Lucario. Lucario suddenly appeared behind Pikachu and smashed him into the ground. Lucario mustered another aura sphere as Pikachu made a feeble attempt to get up. Before Lucario could release his sphere, an arrow lodged into his back.

He growled and turned to see Link standing there with another arrow ready. The two stared each other down. There concentration was broken when they heard "PIKA!" Lucario got prepared to use double team again, but an arrow ruined his concentration. The thunder crashed down on Lucario and Pikachu, sending Lucario flying. Fox jumped up to kick him some, but Lucario turned and smashed him into the ground. Mario jumped up and smashed Lucario into the ground.

As Mario came down, Lucario smashed up and sent Mario higher. He was preparing to do so again when a jolt, a few blaster bullets, and an arrow hit him. He rolled behind some primids when more bullets were fired. Link cut through the primids to see Lucario fire a fully charged aura sphere. Link went flying through a couple of tree branches before finally coming to a stop.

Lucario was charging up another sphere when a large rock fell on him. Lucario looked up from under the rock. "I still have possession of this body." Lucario started glowing and turned into a trophy with purple mist coming off him.

The rock transformed and turned into Kirby, Fox smiled. "Good job," he said. "Now what do we do with Lucario?"

"We get the mist out of him," Link said.

"And you have a plan?"

Link turned to Fox. "Yes, I do."

* * *

They found an old shack that seemed to belong to Wario. Along the top, there was a giant W. Link put the Lucario trophy in the center of the room. They tied it up to a pole to keep it from breaking out immediately. The others left leaving Link and Lucario's trophy alone. Link walked up to the trophy and touched the base. The second Lucario woke up, he tried kicking Link in the face. Link rolled away just as the foot passed by him.

Lucario started pulling on the ropes keeping him connected to the pole. "Let me go, or Tabuu will punish you so greatly, they will be telling stories about it for thousands of lifetimes."

"I want to talk to you."

"I have no reason to want to talk."

"Well I can leave you as a trophy. Basically, I'm giving you time to think of a way to contact Tabuu."

"Or eliminate you."

"If you think that's possible while tied to a pole, then yes."

Lucario adjusted his stance. "What do you want to know?"

"How do I help my friends? Where is the lair in the cliffs?" Lucario laughed. "You know, Lucario's laugh always scared me."

"I'm amused that you still care for your friends."

"I couldn't call them friends if I didn't care about them."

"Why does it matter? Why don't you go home and say your last goodbyes?"

"What do you mean last goodbyes?"

Lucario examined Link for a little before answering the question. "The power Tabuu possesses cannot be withheld in one puny world. The same goes for his army. What Tabuu plans on doing is much greater than you seem to think it is."

"He is made up of only subspace energy, that is why he remains trapped in the subspace realm."

"You do remember that he was at the zoo right? He is taking energy from the hands that is expanding his already immense power, as well as allowing him to leave the subspace realm."

Link slouched in his chair thinking over everything. "You haven't told me where the lair that you took the trophies is at."

"Along the cliffs."

"That is too general of an area."

"Below the river where Fox and Diddy Kong chased down Donkey Kong."

"Then I have one last question for now?"

"What is it?"

"How do I get you out of my friend?"

"You don't. I leave when I want to."

"I have ideas."

"But you're not trying them on me." Lucario broke the ropes holding him and launched an enormous aura sphere at Link. Link pulled out Fox's reflector and sent the ball back at Lucario. Lucario slumped to the ground while a mist came out and left. Lucario glowed and changed into a trophy.

Mario, Fox, and Pikachu entered the room, and Kirby jumped out of a hiding place. Link walked over to the base and tapped it. Lucario got up and looked at the others. He then looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry for what I have done."

Mario put a hand on his shoulder. "It's-a okay. You couldn't-a have controlled it."

"I could have. They filled Sonic with more mist than usual, and he still could fight it."

"Wait," Fox said. "You remember what happened while they had control."

"Yes."

"Then you can take us to the exact location of the lair."

"I never went there, but I know where the transports for the trophies are."

"Then lead the way."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lair infiltration

Lucario climbed to the top of a tree. From where he was, he could see the nearby cliffs that hid, somewhere, the location of one of Tabuu's lairs. He looked around for some sign of subspace activity. He stopped suddenly. "They are using two transports now. Mario, Fox, Kirby, you get the one that is about to leave. I will go with Link and Pikachu to check out the other one."

Mario and his group and nodded and ran to the transport. Lucario, Link, and Kirby ran to the one that was coming to them. Link however started to get behind. Pikachu and Lucario ran through a clearing in the trees to see the coming transport, one that looked similar to what carried Donkey Kong. A primid standing by it noticed the group. It grabbed its gun and started firing. Lucario and Pikachu rolled out of the bullets way. The primid waved and the transport started boosting. Lucario and Pikachu watched as it moved past them. They turned away from the primids and sprinted off after it.

Lucario and Pikachu were faster, but they didn't think they could catch it before it got past the cliffs. Link came dashing out from the trees and jumped on the side of the transport. Link pulled himself up and started fighting the primids. He turned to the trophy. Wrapped in chains, stood Ness. He was about to touch the trophy when he heard "Link."

Link turned to see coming from the other side of the transport was Lucas. Lucas jumped and shouted, "PK thunder." Link reached down the side and grabbed Lucas as he shot towards him. He pulled Lucas up.

Link walked back to the trophy. He was about to touch the base when he heard Lucario say in his head, "They already caught Lucas." Link jumped behind Ness as Lucas shouted, "PK fire."

Link turned to face Lucas. He pulled out his shield and sword. Lucas launched another PK fire. Link jumped over it and threw a bomb at Lucas. Lucas caught the bomb and threw it back. Link rolled to the side, but got hit in one of Lucas's PSI bursts. Link moved back a little and threw his boomerang. Lucas dived to the side and launched PK fire again. Link jumped, pulled out a bomb and threw it at Lucas. Lucas attempted to grab the bomb, but an arrow hit him. Lucas used PK fire again to stop Link from firing another arrow.

Link pulled out a bomb and jumped above Lucas. Lucas used PSI energy to send Link up in the air. Lucas charged another blast. When Link got control of his falling, he threw the bomb down at Lucas. As Lucas recovered from the blast, Link used the down thrust and smashed Lucas to the ground.

Lucas tried to push himself up from the ground. He got to his feet, but an aura sphere slammed into him. The mist came out, leaving the trophy laying right next to Ness's. Lucario pulled himself onto the transport, followed by Pikachu.

Link walked over to the trophies, cut the chains off of Ness, and touched the bases of the trophies. Lucas looked up at Link. He quickly looked back down. "I'm sorry. I should have been stronger."

Lucario came over and put a hand on Lucas's shoulder. "I said the exact same thing. But you were stronger than you needed to be by opposing Tabuu."

Lucas looked up at Link, who smiled and nodded. "Hey!" came a voice. Everyone turned to see Mario, Fox and Kirby standing with Meta Knight. "Nice to see we have three more," Fox said. "It looks like we are approaching some of the entrances to the lair."

As they looked across at each other, the transport with Fox started shaking. Fox looked at the back of the ship where the thrusters were. As he got closer to them, they suddenly exploded. Fox and the others quickly ran to the front. The explosions continued to move forward, and the transport started to fall. They all made a desperate jump to the nearby ledge. They all made it, but some only barely made it.

Link, Lucario, and Ness ran to the front of the transport. Meta Knight turned to them. "These transports take power from the trophies," he said. "Once the trophy is turned to normal, it will begin to self-destruct."

After Meta Knight finished saying that, the other transport began to shake. They all turned to the thrusters and saw Lucas standing close by them. Lucario shouted, "LUCAS!"

The back of the ship exploded, sending Lucas flying off. Lucario jumped off the platform and grabbed Lucas. Lucario saw a platform near the bottom of the cliffs and used extreme speed to reach them.

Link, Ness, and Pikachu raced to the front of the transport. They waited until they got closer. Pikachu jumped and landed on the platform. Ness went next and used PK thunder to reach the edge of the platform. Link stood at the edge of the transport as the explosions got closer, and it began to fall. Link jumped as the transport began to really fall. When he started to fall, he shot out with the claw shot.

Link looked down to see Lucario and Lucas looking straight at him. Link pulled himself up onto the platform. He saw Meta Knight and Kirby jump down the Cliffside. Meta Knight stopped part way down and looked up. "We'll team up with these guys. You just see what you can find."

Link looked at Fox and Mario. Mario just nodded and the two of them headed into the lair. Link, Pikachu, and Ness looked at each other before also heading in.

The other four met at the bottom and examined the area. They saw no way up, and no other entrances. "Well," Meta Knight said. "What do we do from here?"

"We find the entrance," Lucario said.

"There is no entrance."

"Then what auras are on the other side of this door. I can see someone or something behind this wall. All I need to do is find a way to get into the room."

"Can your aura break it?" Lucas asked.

"It isn't that strong even at my critical point."

"Then what is your suggestion?" Meta Knight said.

"We find the way to open it. Start searching." Lucario started feeling against the wall. Meta Knight flew above Lucario and checked, and Lucas and Kirby checked the lower areas. They searched the rocks for a few minutes and began to grow discouraged. Lucas gave up and decided to throws rocks at larger ones that stuck up slightly above the surface.

Kirby soon gave up as well. In desperation, he pulled out his hammer and tried smashing his way in. He got a little in, but he couldn't make progress once he started reaching metal. Kirby gave up on his idea of smashing his way in and continued searching. They continued the searching until they heard a metallic BANG.

The smashers started banging against the wall trying to find where the sound came from. Eventually they heard the BANG again, but they didn't know where it came from. "Hey," Lucas said. "One of the rocks makes a weird sound." The other smashers turned to Lucas. Lucas picked up a rock and threw it fairly far out. It hit one of the rocks sticking out causing the metallic BANG.

Meta Knight flew out to the rock Lucas hit. He looked it over and found a button under a small covering. He lifted the covering off and opened the secret doors. Meta Knight quickly flew back, and the group of smashers entered the room. The room lacked guards of any kind. Lucario scanned the room, looking for someone that would give off an aura. He found one around the corner. They went around and found King Dedede.

Kirby jumped up to the bars of Dedede's cell. The others followed Kirby. Lucario started messing with the locks to Dedede's cell. "Stop that," Dedede said.

"I'm trying to get you out," Lucario said.

"Tabuu made sure that I can't escape. This place will self-destruct if my lock is over." Lucario stopped messing with the lock. "He blames me for his defeat."

"Why doesn't he leave you as a trophy?" Lucas asked.

"I developed a new type of brooch that will make it so I can't be a trophy for more than a second. It really messes up Tabuu's plans.

"What plans?" Meta Knight asked.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tabuu's plans

Fox pulled out his blaster as the elevator made its way down. Mario charged up his F.L.U.D.D. The elevator doors opened, and Mario and Fox charged into the room. Standing in the center of the room stood Pit's trophy. It was connected to multiple sets of chains. Mario and Fox ran to the trophy, but stopped when the elevator shot straight up. "Someone's coming," Fox said. "Hide."

They ran behind a pile of crates. In a few seconds, they heard the elevator return. They heard some footsteps that soon stopped. They heard Bowser's voice. "Why do we need to check down here?"

"Tabuu believes that the smashers have infiltrated this lair. He has also decided he needs the clones for something else." Mario tried to look over the top of the crates, but he bumped one causing something to start falling. "What was that?"

"This ball fell off of those crates." They were silent for a little. Eventually Bowser said, "Probably just rolled off. I mean things like that happen."

"Right. Besides, the trophy is still here and nothing has happened to the chains. It might be a good idea that the ball just happened to fall down." They heard the footsteps and then the elevator leave.

Fox and Mario came out from behind the crates. "I-a guess there-a loyalty doesn't go-a too deep," Mario said.

"Well we better free Pit since they probably won't check down here again." Fox turned to the chains and broke them with a few blasts from his gun.

Mario touched the trophy base. Pit looked at the two of them smiled. His grin disappeared as he jumped back and got an arrow ready. "I'm not going to serve Tabuu."

"He hasn't gotten us yet," Fox said. "Has Tabuu used the mist on you?"

"Yes, but it hasn't worked. Anyway, why should I believe you two?"

"You can tie our hands together. Then you can ask us questions."

* * *

"About five years ago, all of us smashers were able to defeat Tabuu," Dedede said. "Master Hand was worried that Tabuu would return and use what remained to defeat us. We sealed the subspace that remained into the vault."

"What vault?" Lucas said.

"The vault is a creation of Master Hand's. He created it so that only all 35 smashers would be able to open the vault. He used what was unique about each of us smashers as different locks. The locks were made with a select group of the smashers. Lucario, Meta Knight, and I were part of these smashers. The others included Mario, Luigi, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Samus, Captain Falcon, ROB, Fox, Falco, Wolf, and Snake. Eventually Sonic, Bowser, Pit, and Red found out about it."

"Tabuu is trying to gather all the smashers so that he can enter the vault. Because of the abilities of the mist, he can take control of almost every smasher. A few have been able to resist the more powerful mists, such as Pit and Samus. However, he's working on something even worse."

"If the mist enters a trophy, it contains the properties of a fighter. However, it needs to be in a trophy for the mists to be able to do something. He is trying to find a way to get the mists to not need the trophy. He is closer to creating a subspace form that can do many things.

"One, it will not be giving off the purple mist that forms from a normal clone. Two, it will be able to match the strength of the actual fighter. Three, it will be able to split itself into more and more clones."

"Wait," Lucario said. "Are you saying that he is creating something that is as strong as us and can make many of us?"

"Yes. And if he succeeds, he will first take over this world, and then all worlds, Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Corneria, Onett, everywhere."

"Well how do we get you out of here?" Lucario asked.

"You don't. You leave me here."

Kirby's eyes grew large. "Poyo popo."

King Dedede put his hand on Kirby's shoulder. "I have to stay. If what I learned is right, you are one of five besides me that Tabuu hasn't caught. If it means letting this world be destroyed to keep from being caught, don't hesitate to leave." King Dedede looked at the others. "Good luck. You may want to check my castle. There is a special place in the castle where I have hidden my advanced brooches. Remember, they are able to keep you from being turned into a trophy for longer than a second."

They all stood there as King Dedede headed to the back of his cell. Lucario finally got everyone's attention. "Lets go."

* * *

Link looked around the corner to see a primid coming down a hallway. He got an arrow ready as the primid got closer. He dashed out and lodged the arrow between the primid's eyes. "All clear," he said over his shoulder. Pikachu and Ness came from behind. Link opened the doors to one of the rooms. "No one here."

"Pikachu." A voice came down the hallway.

Pikachu's ears immediately stuck up. "Pika pi pi." Pikachu dashed down the hallway.

Link looked out of the room. "Where's Pikachu."

"I don't know, Ness said."

"Pikachu," said a voice.

"Something's wrong," Ness said. "Do you recognize that voice."

"Yeah, it belongs to Samus." Link dashed down the hallway to where the voice came from. Ness followed him. They came around another corner and saw Pikachu just a little bit ahead.

They were about to call out when they heard 'Samus' call out again. Pikachu started running down the hallway to where the last room was. "Pikachu!" Link shouted after running after him.

Pikachu looked over his shoulder as he ran into the room. "Pika pi pika."

"But they have Samus." As Link finished his sentence, the two sliding doors started to close. Link pulled out his sword and inserted it into the gap between the doors.

Pikachu looked behind him and started smacking the doors. "It won't help." Pikachu turned to see a projection of Tabuu floating in the air. Samus was in front of him without her suit, but she was gagged and bound. "Interesting that you would care so much for this particular smasher. Did it have to do with me using you as a battery, and her saving you."

Pikachu stared at Tabuu as Link continued to try to force the doors open. "I believe that Samus deserves to take your place since she freed you." Electricity started going through the cords that bound Samus. She let out a muffled scream. Pikachu ran to where Samus was hanging, but was stopped when three figures jumped in front of him. They were subspace clones of Zero Suit Samus. The one in front used its plasma whip to hit Pikachu. Pikachu jumped backwards out of the whips range.

Pikachu looked around to see that he was surrounded by subspace clones. They were all Samus, some were with her suit and some were without it. "If you are so desperate to be with Samus, wouldn't it be better to just give up," Tabuu said. "You are all alone, and you came here to be with Samus."

"Don't do it!" Ness said through the small crack in the door.

Pikachu looked up at Samus. She hung limp, barely conscious. Pikachu looked at the clones in the room. Finally Pikachu shouted, "PIKACHUUUU!"

Pikachu was suddenly surrounded by electricity. Pikachu had somehow been able to activate his final smash. Pikachu smashed into multiple clones. Pikachu charged the machine holding Samus, but was stopped by a force field. Pikachu turned back to the other clones and continued destroying them. Pikachu eventually turned to normal and fell on the floor exhausted.

One of the suit clones walked over to Pikachu. It charged up its charge shot, but suddenly burst into flames. Ness ran over to Pikachu. Link pushed on the doors and got them wide enough that the length of his sword was between them. Link ran into the room with his bow ready to fire. The projection of Tabuu stared down at them. "This isn't over."

He disappeared, but from behind where he stood, a subspace bomb appeared. "RUN!" Link shouted. The other two ducked under the master sword in the doorway. Once Link got on the other side of the door, he yanked his sword out, allowing the doors to close.

Ness and Pikachu raced down the halls with Link farther behind. Ness and Pikachu turned a corner and crashed into Mario, Fox, and Pit. As the five of them got off of the floor, Link ran by and shouted, "No time to sit, bomb is going off soon." Ness and Pikachu raced after Link, followed quickly by Mario, Fox, and Pit.

Link found the exit and dived into the water below. Ness came down with Fox and Pikachu. Eventually Mario jumped down and Pit floated down. Lucario and the others had come back out to the platform. Pit said, "We need to go." They swam for a little until they found a beach. Once there, the ten smashers watched as the lair was consumed in subspace.

Pikachu collapsed onto the ground. Link also fell over breathing heavily. The others found their own ways of resting. Ness nudged Link. "I thought the only way to do a final smash is with a smash ball," he said.

"Who performed a final smash?" Pit said.

"Pikachu," Link said. "If you can summon lots of power, then that can cause a smasher to be able to do a final smash. I think we need to plan what we do next."

"I agree," Mario said. "But it-a might be better if we-a rest for a little first." Pikachu agreed and quickly fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Division

Pikachu woke up to find himself on Link's lap. Link looked at the others and continued to pet Pikachu. Pikachu got to his feet. Link looked down at Pikachu. "Nice of you to join us," he said.

Pikachu looked around and noticed he was back at the top of the cliffs. "Pika pi pika pika."

"We are trying to come up with a plan," Fox said. "We don't agree on what the next move should be. We have three ideas. Some want to return to Smash Mansion and see what we can find there. Others want to search King Dedede's castle. The final idea is try to retake the Halberd. Oddly enough, Meta Knight opposes this idea."

"We would attract too much attention by going in this big of a group," Meta Knight said. "I still think that splitting up is the best idea."

"We need to stick together," Pit said. "Smash mansion is the best choice if we were to stick together."

"Tabuu will likely have-a set that place up as a trap for-a when we return," Mario said. "If Dedede's brooches are-a really as powerful as-a he says, we will need them."

"I agree with Meta Knight," Link said. "There is a possibility that all of these missions are pointless. It would be best to split up."

"Well, we need to put it to an official vote," Lucario said. "All for the Halberd." Fox raised his hand, but he was the only one. "For going to the smash mansion." Pit and Pikcahu raised their hands (paws). "All those that want to go to Dedede's castle." Mario, Ness, and Kirby raised their hands. "Then I'm guessing we're splitting up since there are four left who haven't voted."

"Actually," Lucas said. "I'm not going to vote."

"So it's a tie between Dedede's castle and splitting up," Ness said.

"Poy po poyo po poy?"

"We let the three not in the tie choose, that's how we decide," Meta Knight.

Fox, Pit, and Pikachu looked at each other. "Can we talk this over?" Fox said. The others agreed and the three huddled together. They whispered for a few moments. Finally they ended their huddle and Fox turned to the others. "We have decided that it would be best to split up."

"Then we need teams," Lucario said. "We also will want to keep it so that Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and Fox don't all end up on the same team."

"How about this," Pit said. "We have me and Meta Knight go for the Halberd, and…"

"No," Meta Knight said. "I want to retake my ship alone. I have to."

"If they send two smashers that have been taken over by the mist after you, you won't win," Lucario said.

"We are all that-a is left," Mario said. "We-a have to stick together."

"I can do it," Meta Knight said. "You have to trust me."

"Well, we should put that to a vote as well," Pit said.

* * *

Mario, Link, Pikachu, Fox, and Ness walked down the road to the Smash Mansion. After the vote had ended, Meta Knight had been successful in convincing enough people that he could take the Halberd and left by himself. The remaining four, Kirby, Lucario, Pit, and Lucas, headed off for King Dedede's castle.

Fox looked at an area they had reached. "We may want to camp here," he said. Link pulled out some ropes and made the best shelter that he could, with the help of Fox. Ness and Mario created a fire while Pikachu went searching for food. After the shelter had been built and food had been gathered, the smashers sat around the flames. "We didn't do well splitting up the five." Ness said. "That isn't that much food,"

"Food-a isn't needed to-a keep us alive," Mario said. "We need it to heal from the injuries we took."

"Either way, it would have been nice to have more food," Fox said.

"It might be better if you are thankful for what you have," Link said. Pikachu walked over between Mario and Link to lie down.

"Look, we are in a really bad position," Fox said. "The more prepared we can be for when we face Tabuu the better. He has an army of twenty four smashers without us and Dedede. It will take more than most of us are probably capable of, and that is not including the primid army."

"We used to be only five," Link said. "Now we have doubled. It's sometimes better to be optimistic than to dwell on what could happen." Link looked at Pikachu and began to pet him. "Why would you want to hurt the hope that remains?"

Pikachu looked at Link. "Pi pika."

Link smiled. "You're welcome."

* * *

They woke up early the next morning and headed out. They tried going through the woods at first, but then decided to just take the main trail. Ness and Pikachu were on one side while Link and Mario were on the other side. Fox was in the middle of the group.

They walked down for a few hours when Fox held up his hand. "Stop," he said.

"What-a is it?" Mario said.

Fox turned his head to the side. After a few seconds, Fox's eyes grew wide. He did the splits, knocking the other four smashers to the sides of the trail. Link and Mario looked up to see five arrows from subspace cannons shoot down the trail, one of which collided with Fox.

Mario and Link quickly got up and ran toward Fox's trophy. Mario dashed ahead of Link, but stopped when a mist entered the trophy. Link caught up to Mario as Fox's trophy began to glow. Fox got himself off the ground. He pulled out his blaster and began to fire at Link and Mario. Link jumped forward, pulled out his shield, and blocked the bullets Fox was firing.

Mario turned around. He grabbed Link and dived to the side. Five more arrows flew through the air. Link and Mario looked up the road to see Ganondorf, Wolf, and Wario carrying a dark cannon and Bowser carrying two. Fox aimed the blaster at Mario and Link, but was stopped by Pikachu's skull bash.

The villains charged up some more shots. Ness used PK thunder and PK fire to destroy two of the cannons, one of Bowser's, as well as Ganondorf's. Link fired an arrow into Bowser's other cannon. Wolf and Wario fired at Ness and Link. They both jumped over the arrows. Ness used PK fire to destroy Wario's and Link used another arrow to destroy Wolf's. "Everyone split up and head into the woods!" Link said.

Mario and Pikachu stopped fighting Fox and ran into the woods. Pikachu dashed through the trees trying to make a complicated path to follow. As he jumped through a small gap between some trees, Wario went flying over him. Wario crashed into a branch as he jumped off his motorcycle. He turned to Pikachu, but he looked serious. He was missing the large annoying smile that he usually had. This just made Pikachu more nervous as they began to fight.

* * *

Link landed on a fallen tree and flipped off as Ganondorf came crashing down. "You know I beat you all the time," Link said.

Link tried to slash him, but Ganondorf rolled out of the way. "You do realize I'm desperate to stay alive," Ganondorf said.

"I am as well, so desperation is as much your enemy as you ally." Link threw a few bombs at a tree, sending it falling to the ground.

Ganondorf dived out of the way and smashed the branch Link was standing on. Link fell down the tree he was standing on. "Tabuu wants you, and I am gonna make sure I deliver."

As Ganondorf tried to smash Link, Link threw a bomb up Ganondorf's shirt. Link rolled away from where Ganondorf came crashing down. Ganondorf reached into his shirt, but Link smashed him. Ganondorf rolled across the ground until the bomb went off, sending him even further off.

* * *

Ness ran through the woods, ducking under branches and climbing over fallen trees. Ness looked behind him and halted to a stop. He didn't see any of the villains coming. He didn't hear any either. Ness looked around for a minute, but still nobody came. Ness thought about this and then realized. They were going for the ones that hadn't been captured yet.

* * *

Pikachu started backing up as he looked at Wario's belly. It had slowly began to expand out as the fight continued. Pikachu lifted up Wario's bike and threw it at him. Wario jumped over the bike, but Pikachu ran under him and called down lightning. As Wario fell to the ground, Pikachu started to climb the tree branches.

Wario got to his feet and looked up at Pikachu who was about twenty feet above the ground. Wario began to climb the tree after Pikachu. Pikachu continued to get farther above Wario. He looked down and watched as Wario unleashed his powerful fart, breaking the branch Pikachu was on. Pikachu landed onto the ground and rolled away as Wario came crashing down. Once Wario had landed, Pikachu began fighting Wario again.

Behind the fighting, Bowser came out from the trees. Pikachu and Wario hadn't noticed his arrival yet. Bowser grabbed the new dark cannon that he had brought with him and got it into a position it could fire. He aimed it and, as it got ready to fire, he heard someone shout from high above the ground. "PK STARSTORM!"

Stars fell to the ground with an exhausted Ness. One of the stars made contact with Bowser's cannon, causing it to explode. Pikachu rolled out of the way of a falling star, and turned to the explosion. Wario was sent flying off from getting hit by multiple stars. Bowser was hit by several stars and staggered to remain keep balanced. When he finally got steady, Pikachu used his skull bash to send him flying off.

Pikachu ran over to Ness to help him up. He grabbed one of Ness's arms and started to tug on it. Ness reached over and put his arm around Pikachu. He looked at Pikachu and smiled. Slowly, Pikachu lifted Ness up and leaned him against the tree.

Before they got a good chance to rest, they heard something rustling in the woods. Ness pushed himself off a tree, and Pikachu got ready to use some electricity. As they were about to start fighting, they saw the person that had been making all the noise had been Link. "Did you have to make so much noise coming over?" Ness said,

"I wanted to make sure I could find somebody." Link said. "I saw the stars falling, and I wanted to make sure that you were all safe." Link looked at both Ness and Pikachu. "Do either of you know where Mario is?" They both shook their heads. Just then, from the distance, they heard someone scream, "Aaaahhh!"

* * *

Mario ran by some of the trees until he found one that was taller than the others. He began to climb the tree, so that he would be prepared for when a villain would come for him. He expected that either Bowser or Wario would come for him, maybe even both. Bowser would be excited for a rematch.

As he was thinking about how he planned on fighting Bowser and/or Wario, he heard a shout from behind him say "PK STARSTORM!" Mario turned around and saw Ness floating in the sky. As about a hundred stars began to fall, Ness also fell from where he was. When most of the stars had fallen from the skies, Mario saw Wario shoot up into the air and far away. Not long after Wario shot through the air, Bowser skimmed slightly above the treetops before flying out of sight.

Mario thought about that. His assumption about having to face one of the villains he was familiar with was wrong. It might have been safe to assume he would face Ganondorf, but Ganondorf would never miss a chance to fight Link.

Before he realized what that meant, he was hit by a powerful blaster. Standing on a tree branch not too far away, Wolf got ready to fire again. As Wolf fired at Mario, he jumped to a nearby branch. When he jumped to the next branch, something jumped up and kicked Mario out of the trees. Mario looked up and saw Fox leap from above and land on the ground.

Mario quickly got to his feet, but was knocked over by a powerful kick by Wolf. Mario rolled away from another kick, but was smashed through a tree from one of Fox's kicks. Mario tried pushing himself up and screamed, "Aaaahhh!" He continued to try, but his arms collapsed. He looked up at Wolf and Fox. Fox turned to Wolf. Wolf nodded and Fox finished Mario with one final punch.

Mario began to glow and was quickly replaced with his trophy. Wolf began talking on a communicator, and Fox picked up Mario's trophy. Soon, the Halberd flew above them. A ladder descended, and Fox climbed up the ladder first, followed by Wolf.

From the woods came Link, Pikachu, and Ness. Wolf turned around from the top of the ladder. "We have gained ground," Wolf said. "Now we only have three more to go before we will be able to open the vault. I will return for you Link, as well as Pikachu. In the meantime, I believe I will search this ship for Meta Knight."

The ship flew off with Mario, Fox, and Wolf on board. Link began to run through the woods. "Where are you going!?" Ness shouted.

"I'm going after that ship!" Link shouted back.

"That ship is crawling with primids and misted smashers."

"It also has Meta Knight, Mario, and Fox on it, and Meta Knight won't be able to handle the forces on board by himself anymore. He needs our help."

Link disappeared from sight. Pikachu looked up at Ness before chasing after Link. Ness looked around and then followed the others. He caught up with Link and asked, "What's the plan?"

"The ship is headed towards the mountain where Meta Knight originally boarded the Halberd. Hopefully, it will be close enough that we can board the ship. We have to hurry if we want to reach the mountain before the Halberd."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Searching and Racing

Lucario opened the gigantic doors that were part of the entrance to King Dedede's castle. Kirby, Lucas, and Pit followed him into the castle. "Lucas," Lucario said. "Can you give us some light?"

Lucas looked around until he found a torch hanging from the wall. Lucas shouted, "PK fire!" Lucario grabbed the newly lit torch and lit another one for Pit. Lucario lit a few more to add light to the room. They were all surprised with what they saw.

The walls had been destroyed. Everywhere there were holes in the walls, doors had been torn off, and parts of the floor had been removed. "They beat us here," Pit said. "We should have known they would."

"They may not have checked everywhere," Lucario said. "They destroyed this place, but we are going to literally tear it apart to find the brooches. Pit and Kirby will check the higher areas; make sure to keep your torch lit. I'll go with Lucas and check further below. If you find just one brooch, make sure to take it."

Pit flew up to one of the towers with Kirby. Lucario found a hole that led to the bottom floor. Lucas looked over the edge and backed away. Lucario first pushed Lucas and then jumped down the hole. Below, the rooms were in the same condition as the room above.

Lucario waved his torch around and found a door covered by fallen stones. Lucario passed the torch to Lucas and prepared an aura sphere. He fired it at the stone pile, but made little progress. He turned to Lucas. "Burn me," he said.

"What?"

"I need to be more powerful and the only way that I will be able to get stronger than I am now is if I get hurt. Now, burn me."

Lucas looked at Lucario and slowly moved his torch towards him. After a while, the flames made contact with Lucario and lit his fur on fire. Lucario stood there for a moment with his eyes closed while the flames spread. Eventually, he began to pat out the flames.

He turned back to the pile and charged up another aura sphere, he launched it at the pile of stones. It didn't get through, but it cleared most of the stones. Lucario made another attempt and destroyed the remaining stones and door.

Lucario and Lucas searched the room. The found destroyed furniture, cabinets, plants, and a broken safe. No matter where they searched, they weren't able to find a single brooch. They destroyed the walls, but found that either the secret compartments had already been searched, or that they led to another room.

They started searching other floors, but all they found was things similar to what they found; ruined furniture, destroyed safes, and no brooches. They eventually met back up with Pit and Kirby on the main floor. "Any luck?" Pit asked.

"Nothing," Lucario said. "I'm guessing the results for you were the same."

Pit nodded. Lucario sighed and found a place to sit. Lucas looked down at the ground and murmured, "What do we do now?"

"We contact the others," Lucario said. He pulled out a communicator. "Lucario checking in, can anyone hear me?" He waited for a little, but didn't get a response. "Can anyone hear me?"

Eventually a voice came through, "This is Link, I hear you."

"How is your mission going?"

"Our mission has changed. Fox and Mario were captured and taken on the Halberd. They also know about Meta Knight, and we can't get through to him."

"Why are you going? You and Pikachu are two out of the three that haven't been captured."

"We need people, and seven is not enough to take down Tabuu. Come if you want, but the rest of us plan on going." The transmission died.

Lucario stared at the transmitter. After a little, Lucas ran for the doors. "Where are you going?" Pit asked.

"Ness will need us. I know I'm not much, but I need to try to help."

"How do you expect to catch the Halberd?" Lucario asked.

"We can think of something on the way. Link is going to try, and we are all faster than him. If he can make it we can."

The other smashers stared at Lucas for a little. Eventually, Kirby joined Lucas's side. Then Pit went over. Pit turned to Lucario. "Are you coming?"

Lucario continued to sit where he was. Eventually, He sat up and walked over. "Unlike Meta Knight, I know it would be pointless to do things on my own. We better hurry."

* * *

Link climbed the mountain and finally caught up with Ness and Pikachu. "It looks like we beat the Halberd. You guys remember how we said we would do it, right?" They both nodded and waited.

A few minutes passed before the Halberd appeared. The smashers slid down the side of the mountain a little to keep out of sight. When the halberd was nearly above them, they climbed back onto the top and got into position.

When the front of the ship was straight off, Link jumped with the two smashers on top of him. Ness used PK thunder to shoot them up even higher. Link shot his claw shot straight up with Pikachu attached. Pikachu finished off using his quick attacks to hook the claw shot onto the ships side.

Link pulled himself and Ness up onto the wing of the Halberd. The smashers looked through a few windows until they found a room that didn't look like it was being used. Link broke the window with his sword. He helped Pikachu get through first, followed by Ness. "Come on Link," Ness said.

"Are you crazy?" Link said. "There is no way that I can fit through there, and if I make the hole any bigger, people will notice."

"You can't go on your own."

"Look, I'll wait on the wings until you guys find Meta Knight or an easier way for me to get in. Don't worry; I'll make sure to stay out of sight." Link looked around then climbed down the wing to a nearby platform. Ness and Pikachu opened the door and began to search for Meta Knight.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Below Deck

Meta Knight pulled out Galaxia. He crept down to the corner of the hallway. When he reached the corner, he froze. He heard footsteps moving toward him. The footsteps slowly began to grow louder. Meta Knight jumped around the corner and stabbed the figure in front of him. Ness rolled to the side and held his hands up. Meta Knight continued holding his sword pointed at Ness's chest. "Holding your hands up isn't proof of good intentions," Meta Knight said.

"Is the fact that we haven't taken you out?" Ness said.

"We?" Meta Knight turned around and saw Pikachu.

Ness summoned some PSI energy that moved around his fingertips. "Now prove to us that you haven't already been caught by the subspace."

The speakers above them suddenly came on. "Attention Meta Knight," a voice said. From the way it sounded, they guessed it was Tabuu. "Just so you know, I know you're on board. I don't care how long it takes. I will find you. LET THE HUNT BEGIN!" After that the speakers went dead.

Meta Knight looked at Ness. "There's my proof. What are you two doing here? I'm doing this alone. Your mission was to go with Link, Fox, Mario, and Pikachu to take back Smash Mansion."

"Fox and Mario have been captured."

"Where's Link?"

Ness began rubbing the back of his head, "Well, he is hopefully still hiding on one of the wings."

Meta Knight's eyes shrunk a little, and he started to shake. He looked at a nearby door. "I believe that room is soundproof," He said. He shoved Pikachu and Ness into the room. Once the three of them were in, Meta Knight sealed the room. He turned to the other two. "So, we only have three that haven't been captured. You're telling me, that YOU HAD THE GREAT IDEA TO BRING TWO OF THOSE THREE ONTO A SHIP INFESTED WITH SUBSPACE! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"

"We were thinking that you were going to need help." The smashers turned to the window and saw Link. "They knew what we were supposed to be doing. They may not, however, know what we are doing. You can't do this on your own."

"Well it gets worse," Meta Knight said. "The ship is going to drop off trophies that didn't make it into the cliff lair. That means we are headed for the Subspace realm."

"Then we have to hurry," Ness said.

"The ship has seven misted onboard plus Wolf. There are also many clones, and they are all hunting me now." Meta Knight said. "The best option is probably to retreat."

Link looked through a window. "Well you may want to hide. Wolf and Fox are coming down the halls." Link ducked while the other smashers searched for places to hide.

Fox and Wolf began to search the room. After a minute had passed, Wolf said, "It might be better if we split up. We could cover more ground that way." Fox hesitated for a moment, but then nodded and left. Wolf watched Fox until he was out of sight. Wolf stood there for a little before shutting the door. "You guys aren't that great at hiding. I know that there are at least two of you in here."

Meta Knight came out of his hiding spots and quickly got ready to fight. Ness stood in front of Meta Knight. "He sent Fox away," Ness said. "I think he could have taken us out if he wanted to."

"Thank you," Wolf said. "Now if you'll be patient, I can help you."

"If you want to help us, then why are you Tabuu's loyal dog?" Meta Knight said.

Wolf clenched his fists before letting out a long breath. "I am no ones dog." He turned to Ness. "Are there any more smashers here?"

Link stuck his head through the window as Pikachu came out of hiding. "Yes," Ness said.

"It wasn't a good idea to bring two of the three remaining smashers here," Wolf said.

"At least we can get along about something," Meta Knight said.

"Well then you guys are going to be really disappointed," Link said as he looked over the side of the ship. "The other four are coming to the Halberd."

On the ground, Pit jumped into the air and grabbed Lucario. Kirby swallowed Lucas and tried to fly up to the Halberd. Once Lucario was dropped off, Pit turned back and brought Lucas the rest of the way. Kirby was eventually able to reach the top.

Wolf sighed. "The only reason I am helping Tabuu is because I believe that you guys honestly don't have a chance. By supporting Tabuu, it keeps me alive. However, I will tell you everything I know to help you."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Tabuu's Experiments

"Tabuu has made a lot of progress in the last five years," Wolf said, "but the progress he has made since capturing most of the smashers is far greater. On the first day, right after capturing the smashers, Tabuu collected some of the ones he really wanted. He carried off five trophies. They were Sonic, Samus, Snake, Ike and Marth. Tabuu had learned by now of the difficulties of misting King Dedede.

"Tabuu eventually went back to the subspace world and continued on his experiments. Subspace mist, I have learned, is made by crushing subspace bugs. What remains is what creates the mist. Tabuu is trying to make something more powerful than the mist."

"We know," Meta Knight said. "King Dedede told us that the new creation will allow the subspace to make clones like the subspace bugs, as well as smashers as powerful as when they are misted."

Pikachu looked at Meta Knight. "Pi pi pika pik pika."

Meta Knight looked at Kirby. "We went over this while you were unconscious. Sorry that we forgot to tell you, but you slept for about a day, and we couldn't wait."

"So you realize that once Tabuu has misted someone, he just needs to figure out how to make identical copies without a trophy and he can get into the vault," Wolf said. The smashers (with the exception of Pikachu) nodded. "He is nearly there," Wolf said. "Once he had misted the five trophies he brought with him, he made multiple attempts to make perfect copies.

"The way that Tabuu tested if he was close or not is by putting the clones through a series of tests. Some of the tests were comparisons of the clone and misted smasher's skills. His Sonic clones are nearly as fast as the real thing. They are at a similar speed to Captain Falcon. He has made other discoveries as well. After his test of using a real Samus as bait to trap Pikachu he discovered other things.

"One of the things he discovered is that the clones can act in a similar way to the real things. They are unfeeling, but they can create similar things to the feelings of the real person, something that the misted cannot do.

"Tabuu is making sure that there is no way that things can go wrong. He made sure that he has a copy of mist for everyone he caught as well. If you are somehow able to find where he keeps the misted versions, he has it so that the only way to enter and exit is as a gas. There are only a few empty spaces now. They belong to Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and King Dedede."

Kirby looked at Wolf. "Poyo poy po Dedede."

"As much as it surprises me, they have not been able to break Dedede. He has refused to give up his brooch, and that might be a good thing. Tabuu is constantly having top deal with problems Dedede causes, causing Tabuu's work to slow down. However, the frustration that Dedede has caused Tabuu will probably come back and ruin Dedede.

"I have looked through documents that Tabuu has. Tabuu has five major plans. 1. He wants to unleash the vault and build up his army. 2. He wants to create a more powerful subspace form. 3. He wants to break Dedede. 4. He wants to capture the remaining three. 5. He wants to eliminate the smashers. What that means is he wants to kill the smashers."

"Tabuu can't kill us though," Pit said. "Tabuu can at best turn us trophies. The only way we can die is if we leave this world, and Master Hand, and only him, can provide us a way to him."

"Your right, While Tabuu has control of Master Hand, he isn't able to do what only Master Hand is able to do. Tabuu, however, has also experimented on some primids. He may not be able to kill us, but he has created something that can. He has created what he calls a subspace gun, and he intends on celebrating when he is able to create exact copies by eliminating some of the smashers.

"That is the reason that I am willing to help you. I learned that if I at any time was just a loyal dog, he is getting ready to put me to sleep. Ganondorf and Bowser are never really comfortable around Tabuu, but Wario has come close to devoting himself. Porky, Petey Piranha, and Ridley are not sure where they stand.

"There is one more thing that I have to share with you." Wolf pulled out a piece of paper. "I was able to make a copy of this. This is Tabuu's kill list."

Link took the paper and examined it. Some of the writing included:

"1. King Dedede: Brooches cost me first time and he frustrates me now. Will be the first to die.

"2. Sonic: Caused me incapable of off waves causing my defeat the first time. Second to die.

"3. Lucario: Capable of sensing aura. Will be a problem if not dealt with. Kill third

"4. Mario/Link: They may not be as threatening, but the other smashers look up to them. Kill soon after captured.

"5. Snake: Large threat and important part in recapturing the from me. Could be seen as a leader. Fifth to die.

"6. Let the games begin."

Link folded the paper and put it into his pocket. "What does let the games begin mean?" Link asked.

"I don't know," Wolf said. "But it worries me that that is on the kill list." Lucario looked at the others. "We may have a problem," he said. "If Wolf is going to spy for us, our cover is blown if Tabuu tries to extract information from us."

"I might have a way to fix that," Ness said. "My PK Flash, if done right, is able is able to cause memory loss. Wolf may want to go though."

Wolf nodded and turned to leave. As he was about to go, he said, "Go to room 7a and you'll meet one more smasher."

When Wolf was gone, Ness continued. "Now we need one person to transfer the information to the rest of us once everyone else loses their memory.

"How do you know this is going to work?" Lucas said.

"Simple. I heard about bright flashes causing memory loss. I tried it for two hours before I realized I didn't know what happened for the last hour and a half and I was really exhausted. Who is keeping their memory?"

"I think the best person is Link," Meta Knight said. "He speaks in a way we can all understand, and he is more important to protect than anyone besides Pikachu and Kirby."

The others agreed with Meta Knight. Link found a place where the flash wouldn't affect him. The other smashers gathered in a group and Ness unleashed a really bright version of PK Flash. Link looked through the window. "Hey Pit."

Pit turned to Link. "How did I get on the Halberd?"

"I guess that answers what I was going to ask. Meta Knight. Who entered the room a while ago?"

"When did you get on the Halberd?"

"Never mind. I have some explaining to do." Link told the other smashers about what Wolf had said, without mentioning it was Wolf or saying anything that might show it was Wolf. When he was done, he said, "I trust this person, so I think 7a is worth investigating."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

7a

Pit and Meta Knight led the smashers down the hall. Lucas stood in the middle ready to use PK Fire if they saw anyone. The three smashers haven't been captured stood in the middle of the group. Lucario and Ness watched the back. They eventually found 7a and avoided running into anyone. On the door, there was a note.

Pit grabbed the note, but Link quickly grabbed the note from him. Pit glared at Link. "This might be from my source," Link said. "It could possibly have something that gives away my source." Link looked at the note for a minute before looking at the others and saying, "We'll be safe here, but the ship isn't far from the subspace realm."

Meta Knight opened the door and looked inside to see what was stored in there. They saw the trophy of AN ice climber. "It's Nana," Meta Knight said.

"And Popo," Ness said.

"No, just Nana. The ice climbers have been separated."

"But they're a team," Pit said. "They're supposed to be a part of the same trophy."

"Apparently, Tabuu has found a way to separate the duo." Everyone entered the room, and Pit closed the door. Meta Knight walked over and tapped the trophy base. As soon as Nana had changed back, she broke down and cried. "DON'T TAKE POPO!" she shouted. She looked around the room until she saw the other smashers. "Where am I?" she said as tears started to form.

"It's ok," Ness said as he sat down beside Nana. "It's ok,"

"You're on the Halberd," Meta Knight said.

Nana looked straight at Meta Knight. She started to back away against the wall. "Get away!" She shouted.

"What did I do?" Meta Knight asked

"You ripped me apart from Popo." Nana got up onto her unsteady feet. "GIVE HIM BACK, NNOOWW."

Link shut Nana's mouth as a shadow they heard something bump onto the door. They heard something say, "What-a is it?" From the voice, they guessed it was Mario.

"I thought I heard shouting." The voice was likely Fox's. Nana continued to scream, but it was muffled from Link's hand "Maybe someone is messing with Nana."

"Should we-a check on her."

"Yeah, she hasn't screamed in a…" Link let go of Nana's mouth and let her continue to scream. "Never mind, the screaming is back." The voices started getting quieter and quieter until it was completely gone.

"This is a trick," Nana said. "I don't know anything."

"Nana," Pit said. "We aren't misted or clones."

"Prove it."

"They haven't caught me," Link said. "Or Pikachu or Kirby."

"You don't have proof."

Link sighed and stood up. He looked down at Nana and pulled out his sword. Nana got up quickly and pulled out her hammer. Link closed his eyes as he shoved his sword through his own chest. Nana stared at Link as Link collapsed onto the ground. He soon turned into a trophy. "There isn't a purple mist coming off of him," Pit said. "And he hasn't fallen apart."

Lucario hit the trophy base. Link looked at Nana and put away his sword. "I hope that's enough proof for you." Link sat down and stared off into space.

Ness walked over to Nana. "Do you think you could tell us why you aren't with Popo?"

Nana looked at Ness. "Tabuu wanted to experiment on the two of us. Since we are a duo that is stuck together, he wanted to see what certain things would do. The first thing that he did was he shot me with a subspace cannon. When the arrow hit me, I blacked out. I woke up, and Tabuu talked about how shooting me had no effect on Popo. He then shot Popo. I blacked out again, and woke up with Popo by my side.

"Tabuu continued his experiments and they kept on getting worse. When he was done with seeing what would happen to us because of us being a duo, he tried to find a way to separate the two of us. Most of his experiments involved using energy he steals from the hands. He tried to use the energy to rip us apart, but what he did was start ripping us in half.

"He tried many things until he figured it out. He came out and he was carrying this gun. He aimed the gun at me and fired." Nana started to cry like crazy. "It hurt so much; I thought I was going to be ripped apart. It lasted for ten minutes. All I remember is pain, just pain. I don't think I could ever be hurt worse."

Nana hadn't quite stopped crying, but she was mostly in control. "When it finally stopped, I looked up to see they had already changed Popo into a trophy. Tabuu said, 'Excellent. Now make sure to keep these two apart.' A Meta Knight started to drag Popo off." Nana began to break down again. "I cried and screamed for him. 'Popo don't leave me.' I remember turning to Tabuu and shouting, 'Give me my brother back.' The last thing I remember was Tabuu smiling and firing at me with a subspace cannon."

Nana turned to Meta Knight. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's just that you were the one I saw carry Popo off. I don't know if I'll ever see him again." She sobbed uncontrollably. The only thing that anyone was able to understand was, "I…WANT…MY…BROTHER…BAAACK!"

Lucas put his hand on Nana's shoulder. Nana continued to cry, but looked up at Lucas. Lucas smiled and said. "W-we'll get you your brother back." Nana continued to cry, but she was able to return a weak smile.

As silence began to form, the ship began to shake. Meta Knight dashed out of the room and quickly returned. "We're entering the subspace realm."

"Can we find a way off?" Ness said.

Lucario used his aura. "Negative. They are guards just stopped in front of this door. If we try to make a move, the guards will quickly make our presence known. We're stuck here until there's an opening."

* * *

An hour had passed and boredom was really starting to affect the kids. They originally did tag, but they made so much noise that the adult smashers made them change games. They moved on to hide & go seek. Ness convinced Lucas and Nana to ask Kirby and Pikachu to join them. They soon got the others to join. They had to kick out Lucario, though, after he seeked and used aura to find everyone in one minute. Link, Pit, and Meta Knight also finished playing.

The four adults got together and tried to come up with a plan. They had no idea how to get out without being noticed. "They will also want to bring the trophies to Tabuu as well," Pit said. "That means that they will be coming in here to get Nana."

"We can't switch rooms either," Lucario said. "Even if we could figure out a way to get the guards to move, there are patrols that are in every single hallway."

Pit nudged Meta Knight. "Looks like they're still looking for you."

Meta Knight's eyes grew wide. "That could be the solution," he said. "I could barge out of here carrying Nana. The rest of you could find a way to take over the ship."

"What if they get you?" Link asked. "Nana has already been through a lot. We may not want to put her at risk."

Meta knight smiled (underneath the mask). "Don't worry about me. Not even you can best me with a sword."

* * *

The Halberd eventually began to slow down and stop. Lucario continued to watch what was going on outside. Most of the patrols had left their post. Lucario waved for Meta Knight to get ready. Meta knight held his sword in one hand and Nana in the other. "I'm scared," Nana said.

"Don't worry. They won't lay a finger on you."

"Wait," Lucario said. "They are letting something on board."

Lucario continued to stare through the wall. He suddenly let lose lots of aura. "What are you doing?" Meta Knight asked.

"They brought a clone of me onto the ship. It will be able to see where we are." After he had let a little bit more aura loose, he turned to Meta Knight. "I'm coming with you."

"You can't. You just exhausted yourself with all that aura."

"They will know I'm here from all of the aura I used. If they know I'm with you, they will less likely search rooms."

"He's right," Pit said. "Let him go with you."

Meta Knight looked at Lucario. "You better not slow me down."

"Same goes for you." Lucario went to the door. "The guards are moving. Are you ready?"

"I am."

Lucario continued to stand by the door. He watched until he saw the guards go talk to some other subspace clones. Lucario pulled open the door and sprinted out, followed by Meta Knight.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Takeover

Meta Knight slammed the door shut behind him as he sprinted out. The guards barely saw him go by before he was out of sight. Meta Knight eventually caught up with Lucario. "I thought you weren't going to slow me down."

"I'm trying to make sure I don't exhaust myself. From what I could observe, you were sprinting to catch up to me." They turned a corner and ran into the Lucario clone. Lucario unleashed an aura sphere that destroyed the clone. They turned back around and sprinted down a new hallway. A sonic clone ran up and tripped Meta Knight. Meta Knight fell to the ground. He turned around and stabbed Sonic through the chest. He quickly got back up and went after Lucario.

Lucario led them down the hallway, and passed room 7a again. Meta Knight stopped at the room. "Lucario!" he shouted after him. "This is my ship, so maybe I should lead!" Lucario came back and agreed. Meta Knight went down the ship until they got to the front of the ship. Meta Knight turned around a corner, but stopped when he saw multiple clones down the hallway.

Lucario looked down the where they had come. "More are coming this way. We're trapped."

"When the trail is blocked, you make your own." Meta Knight ran into a room, followed by Lucario. Meta Knight shoved some of the things in the room in front of the door. Meta Knight went to the window and broke the glass. "Nana," he said. "Do you have any rope?" Nana nodded and pulled out some rope. Meta Knight grabbed one end of the rope and jumped out the window. Lucario tied the other end to a part of the window. He flew to a distant wing and tied the rope to it.

In the room, Lucario could see that the door was being opened. He pushed back on the door, but was flung back when a strong smash hit the door. "DK" he murmured. He charged an aura sphere. As the gap got wider, Lucario threw the aura sphere. Bullets flew through the gap. Lucario rolled away and shoved against the door, decreasing the gap some more. He started pushing more things in front of the door until another hard smash hit the door.

Meta Knight looked down at Nana. "Nana do you think you can climb up here?"

"Can't you fly me up there?" she asked.

"Sonic hurt my wing. Please, I need you to climb up here." Nana looked down at the ground. "Nana, we need to stay safe, if we want to get your brother back." Nana looked up at Meta Knight. She grabbed the rope and began to climb it. At about half way, the ship suddenly shook. One of Nana's hands slipped off the rope. Meta Knight looked at the rope and saw that it had come loose. He dove for it as the knot came undone.

Lucario staggered to his feet. Five DKs using their giant punch should have ripped the door off. Surprisingly, the door was just wide enough that if Olimar hadn't had his helmet, he could have fit. Lucario launched an aura sphere into one of the Donkey Kongs. Lucario once again shoved on the door. He pushed as hard as he could, but the door continued to open.

Lucario looked at the rope. He could tell that his feet were sliding. It wouldn't be long before the clones broke through and swarmed the room. Lucario looked at the rope. He gave one last shove before jumping out the window and cutting the rope with his spike.

Meta Knight struggled to hold onto the rope as it began to swing. Nana lost her grip, but managed to grab it before she really started falling. Lucario continued to climb, but he felt someone grab onto his foot. The misted Falco had been able to catch up with him. Below Falco, a Luigi, Diddy Kong, and Pit were climbing up as well. Lucario cut the rope again just below his top hand, causing Pit and Diddy Kong to fall to the ground below. Falco had managed to hold onto Lucario and Luigi had grabbed Falco.

The little rope that Lucario was left with was starting to slide through his fingers. Falco looked down at Luigi and kicked him off, leaving him with Lucario. Falco bent himself so he could kick Lucario in the chest. Lucario used his free hand to try and shake Falco off. Falco managed to climb over Lucario until he also had a hold of the rope.

He kicked Lucario again, causing Lucario to slip off. Lucario grabbed onto Falco as he began to fall. Falco started swinging the rope. Above the fighting smashers, Nana struggled to hold onto the rope as it continued to swing. Falco eventually got the rope to swing enough that he smashed Lucario into the side of the ship. Lucario let go of Falco. Lucario quickly clung to the wall before he fell into the hands of the clones waiting for him below.

Lucario looked at Falco, who had begun to climb after Nana. Lucario started to climb up the side of the Halberd in an attempt to catch up with Falco. Nana looked down as Falco continued to climb. Lucario hurried up the side of the Halberd, but Falco was getting further away. Nana was a lot closer to Falco than to Meta Knight. Meta Knight wanted to help Nana, but he was having a hard enough time trying to not let go of the rope or slide off the edge.

Falco was only a few feet away. Lucario desperately climbed up the side of the Halberd. When Falco reached out to grab Nana, Nana flipped herself upside down, stretched out her palm, and let out a blast of freezing air. Falco was caught off guard and let go of the rope. As he began to fall, he got frozen in a large chunk of ice. The ice broke away as he passed the end of the rope. He reached for the rope. The end of the rope bounced off of Falco's fingers, and Falco crashed into the ground below.

Nana pulled herself up to Meta Knight. Meta Knight rolled up the rope as Lucario jumped over to join the others. "Good job," Meta Knight said. "I'm actually surprised you were okay after all of the shaking the rope did." Nana smiled as they climbed over to the deck.

Meta Knight got on deck first. Lucario lifted Nana up first before climbing up. They had just sat down when about twenty five clones came out. Lucario sighed as he stood up and faced the clones. "Can't we get a five second break?"

* * *

Link counted to three minutes before heading out. He led the other smashers up to the bridge. Ness and Lucas were in the middle of the group. Pikachu and Yoshi were next and Pit was at the back. Link looked around a corner and saw it was clear. He ran down and saw the elevator that led to the bridge. He went over and pressed the button.

He stepped back and waited for the elevator to arrive. The elevator doors opened and revealed Fox speaking into his communicator, saying, "Understood Master Tabuu. We're making our…" Fox stared at the six smashers. He started saying, "Master Tabuu, the…" before Pit fired an arrow through the communicator.

* * *

Tabuu floated a distance off. He was excited. So what if there were three smashers that hadn't been captured, he nearly had accomplished one of his goals. Hopefully, he could accomplish his second soon and then get started on the first part of a third.

He turned to King Dedede, who was standing covered in chains. Tabuu summoned a blade and stuck it against Dedede's neck. "Tell me where the brooch is."

Dedede laughed. "You're going back to this. This was the first threatening position you tried. Four times now. Three to the chest, three to head, one to my back, and one where you threatened to cut my arms and legs off. You have gone through them on, and I have laughed at you after you brought me back."

Tabuu started shaking. He turned away from Dedede. He suddenly yanked his hammer and snapped it in half. Tabuu breathed heavily as he looked at Dedede. Tabuu didn't realize it at first, but he noticed that Dedede seemed really concerned. Dedede realized he was doing and quickly erased the look of concern. Tabuu looked at the hammer. "No matter what, if you're turned into a trophy, your hammer is with you. Very clever, but those few last seconds have ruined your chances of keeping your secret."

Tabuu began to tear the hammer apart. He tore it apart until he was completely destroyed. Tabuu looked through the pieces, until he found it. Stuck on the inside of the hammer, near the bottom, was a bright, shiny, golden brooch. Tabuu picked it off of the base. He turned quickly to Dedede and blasted him. Dedede's trophy stood there with his hammer put back together.

Tabuu walked over to the trophy. "Just so you know," he said to the trophy. "The brooches turn on after ten seconds. You should come back in 3…" Tabuu stared at the trophy. "…2…" He examined the hammer where Dedede had hidden the cause of all of Tabuu's problems. "…1." There was no glow, there wasn't anything. A mist entered and quickly departed Dedede's body.

As Tabuu walked away from the trophy, he heard his communicator turn on, "Master Tabuu," Fox said. "We have a problem. Some of the free smashers have hidden on board, and have been able to get one of the trophies."

"Take care of it. I don't want their numbers growing."

"Understood Master Tabuu. We're making our…"

Fox stopped speaking. Tabuu got impatient and said. "What were you saying?"

Eventually Fox responded, "Master Tabuu, the…"

The communicator gave off static and went dead. Tabuu waved his hand, and the misted Sonic appeared. "Help Fox, but make sure not to lose the smasher you possess. I want to punish him."

Sonic nodded and dashed to the Halberd.

* * *

Fox was the only misted one, but he was with two Ikes, a Marth, two Pits, four DKs, a Toon Link, and a ROB for a total of twelve. Link looked at the twelve of them before running into the elevator, followed by the other six. The fighting was limited since they barely fit in the elevator. When the elevator opened up to the bridge, the smashers and subspace smashers spilled out. One of the DKs had been defeated by Pikachu, but everyone else was fine. Link fought Toon Link and Pit fought his clones. Pikachu fought the robot, and the Earthbound residents fought the remaining DKs as well as the Marth. Kirby got surrounded by the Ikes and Fox.

Link blocked Toon Link as he slashed at Link. Link turned to Kirby and saw how he was having problems. Link used the claw shot and threw Toon Link at an Ike. Link tried to finish them both off. Toon Link rolled out of the way, but Ike was impaled and dissolved. Link locked blades with Toon Link. He heard something behind him, and jumped over Toon Link. Ike zoomed over and collided with Toon Link.

Pit used one of his daggers for each of the clones. They pushed him against a wall as the fighting continued. Pit dived through a small gap between the blades. Pit kicked one of his clones and knocked him over. He turned to the other clone and slashed at him. Pit's moves were too fast and, eventually, he got through and stabbed him in the chest. He quickly pulled the blades out and stabbed behind him. The Pits fell onto the ground and dissolved.

Ness and Lucas caught Marth in between two PK fires, causing him to fall apart. The final Donkey Kong ran up to Ness and hit him with a charged giant punch. Ness crashed into the wall and slumped onto the floor. Lucas used PK fire on Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong recovered and charged Lucas. Before he reached Lucas, Pit rushed forward and stabbed him.

Everyone had defeated their opponents with the exception of Fox and Kirby. Fox kicked Kirby across the room. Kirby struggled to get up. Lucas walked over and helped his friend up. Fox looked around as he saw that the smashers had surrounded him and, he had walked into a corner. He tried to get out before the smashers could react, but he was beaten up and thrown back into the corner as a trophy.

Pit looked out the window. "Hey guys," he said. "I think that the others might need our help." Below, the three other smashers were struggling with a group of clones. Kirby and Ness were resting.

Link looked out the window. "How about Pikachu and Lucas jump down and help while you and I fire arrows?" Pit agreed, as well as Pikachu and Lucas. Link broke the glass and began firing arrows. Pit joined him as the other two began jumped down. Soon, the deck was clear of clones.

Meta Knight looked up at Link and Pit, "Is it clear up there?"

"Yeah. We got rid of everyone, and the other two are up here resting." Link suddenly looked inside. "Something's coming up the elevator. You may want to get up here. You too Lucario, since we have a misted Fox." Meta Knight and Lucario ran inside, leaving Nana, Lucas, and Pikachu on deck.

Suddenly, Link and Pit were knocked off. Pit was able to fly back in, but Link fell on his arm. He screamed, but quickly stopped. Nana ran over, "What happened?" she asked.

Link got to his feet. "Sonic is here." Pit was shot out the window, but his wings weren't working, and he also crashed into the ground below.

Sonic stepped out and looked down on them. "You're gonna have to do better than that," he said. "But it doesn't really matter. I've got Fox as backup and there are two wounded people up here." Sonic walked inside and watched as Ness picked himself up off the floor, and placed himself between Sonic and Fox. Kirby struggled to get up, but he couldn't summon the energy.

Sonic stared at Ness and laughed. "I control the world's fastest hedgehog. You're just a little kid who is dealing with things greater than him. Step out of my way."

Ness struggled to remain on his feet, but he didn't move out of his way. "You aren't touching my friend."

"Friend? He is a servant to Master Tabuu. You are mistaken about who your friends really are."

"It doesn't matter that one of you took control, my friend is still inside him and you. Besides, my mistake isn't nearly as great as yours."

"And what mistake is that?"

"You let me stall for time." The elevator doors shot open, and Meta Knight rushed in slashing Sonic. Sonic rolled out of the way, but was hit by an aura sphere. He crashed into the wall, and soon had his trophy standing there without the mist. Lucario turned to the Fox trophy and fired an aura sphere at it as well.

Lucario hit the base of the trophies, and before they had really come back, they both fell onto the floor. "They seem to be exhausted," Lucario said.

"They aren't the only ones," Meta Knight said. "We need to do something for the other hurt smashers."

* * *

Sonic woke up. He looked around the room for a little bit. It looked like he was in the infirmary of the Halberd. (He ends up there a lot when he messes with Meta Knight) He saw that Fox, Link, Pit, Ness, and Kirby were also on beds. Pit was the only other one not asleep. "Nice to see you join us."

Sonic tried not to look at him before saying, "Sorry for kicking you out the window and breaking you wing."

Pit began to look worried, "Are you okay?"

Sonic gave Pit a puzzled look. "Yeah, why?"

"You sound so, *Gasp*, serious," Sonic smiled as Pit burst into laughter. "I can't believe I'm telling you this but lighten up. I will heal, and look at the bright side. We got the Halberd back."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Counterattack

Tabuu floated high in the sky, watching the Halberd. It had been a while since Sonic had been sent over and it was likely that he had lost Sonic. He was somewhat tempted to go alone and face them, but he had no idea how many there were, and he might lose the Halberd in the process.

A Sonic clone ran up and got onto his knees, "My lord," he said. "Sonic has failed, and they have turned him against us, but we have good news as well."

"What news?"

"Every single one of the rebelling smashers is on board that ship. Also, the experiments are finished. They were successful."

Tabuu smiled. "Then I have accomplished my second goal. Get an army together and send them to attack the Halberd."

* * *

The smashers had all healed by now. They huddled around a table trying to come up with a plan. Fox wasn't able to tell them much, but Sonic had a lot of useful information. "I think that this ultimate subspace form is close to perfection. I don't know how close he is exactly, but I do remember one thing; he found Dedede's brooch," Sonic told them more things, but most of them were what Wolf had already said. (Link still was the only one to know Wolf was the leak.)

The adult smashers listened to everything Sonic said. When he was done, Lucario said, "Has Tabuu's army grown much in the time he captured the smashers."

"It has grown a lot. Somewhere, Tabuu has hooked up machines to Mr. Game & Watch to create more subspace bugs. I have no idea where the machine is."

The smashers continued to make plans, but the plans all relied on Tabuu not quite succeeding in creating the ultimate form. "How about this?" Fox said. "I go over and sneak around and see if I can figure out if he has created the ultimate form or not. He has already caught me, so it won't matter if he catches me again."

"But we need every single smasher we can get, and you are still weak from the mist," Lucario said.

"Don't worry. Only Sonic is faster than me, and I'm pretty sure I'm sneakier than he is."

"Is that a challenge?" Sonic asked.

"If it is, you'll have to wait and figure it out when this is all done," Meta Knight said.

"I think that it might be a good idea to send someone," Pit said. "But I'm not sure Fox is the right person."

"We could put it to a vote," Sonic said. "What are the choices?"

"One is to send Sonic over," Link said. "The second is to send Fox. The final is that we send no one over."

"Then who wants to send me over?" Sonic said. The only vote that got is Pit's. "Nice, I don't have to go. I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"You can do that after the vote is over," Meta Knight as he pulled Sonic back to the table. "All in favor for sending Fox."

Meta Knight raised his hand, along with Fox, Link, and Sonic, who said, "Now I'm going to take a nap."

As Sonic left, the other Smashers turned to Fox. Some of them told him good luck and others said don't get caught. Fox went back to where his stuff was and grabbed everything he would need. As he was preparing to leave, he checked to make sure that it was safe to go. When he saw no one, he ran off.

* * *

The smashers rested as they got ready for whatever Fox would say when he got back. The kids played hide and go seek as the adults rested. Sonic had slept for about two hours when he was suddenly woken up by Meta Knight. "Hey, come on," He said. "Do you see how dark it is?"

"We're in the subspace realm," Meta Knight responded.

"Oh, so you think I should sleep until we leave. I completely agree." Sonic laid back down to get some more sleep. Meta Knight quickly threw Sonic out of bed and against the wall.

Sonic rubbed his head as Meta Knight bent over him. "We have company."

Sonic looked up at Meta Knight and said, "What do you mean by company?"

As he said that, he heard someone yell, "Is there anyone who will meet with me." Sonic got up and ran out onto the deck followed by Meta Knight. On the ground, Ike was surrounded by a Marth, a Pit, a Meta Knight, a Toon Link, and hundreds of primids on the right side of the ship.

Ike looked at Sonic and Meta Knight, who had been joined by Link and Lucario. Ike seemed to focus the most on Link. "Ah," Ike said. "One of the troublemakers. You have been able to avoid us for a while, but we thought we could offer something that will make you want to join us." He turned to a group of primids. "Bring them out."

The Primids went behind a nearby hill and pulled out a large thing holding two struggling people. One of them was Zelda. The other was Samus (with her suit). They were both tied to a pole in the middle and gagged. "Now," Ike said. "We are willing to trade Zelda and Samus in exchange for Link and Pikachu. You will have one of the three with you, and you will save two friends. Oh, and just so you know they are real." Ike grabbed a subspace cannon from a primid. The Marth clone grabbed another. They both fired at the hostages, and soon the hostages were trophies. "Will you make the trade?"

Link stepped forward and said, "We will need time to decide together. Once we get the other smashers here, we would like five minutes to create a plan."

"One minute," Ike said. "Five is enough to come up with an attack plan."

"Three minutes. One will likely make us answer quickly and say no." Ike agreed to this and Sonic was sent around the Halberd to find the others.

They talked for a while before they had come up with their decision. Lucario was the one to talk to Ike this time. "We need the three you want. Plus we lack the trust to believe you'll follow through." All of the smashers began to leave. Only Pit and Link stayed with Lucario.

As the smashers left, Ike said, "You're going to want to bring them back out in a moment."

"Why do you think they'll need to come back?"

"Our orders were to bring back at least one of the three. A trade is a way that can satisfy both of you and Tabuu."

"If Tabuu gets closer to fulfilling some goal of his, we aren't satisfied."

"I wasn't done. Since I need to bring one of the three in, if you continue to refuse the trade offer, I will have to lead a siege against your ship. Depending on how successful I am, I may collect every single one of you. What do you say now?"

Lucario continued to look down on Ike. He finally said. "We will take our friends." Ike looked kind of surprised that Lucario said that. "But we will give you nothing."

Link threw a bomb down at some of the primids. After it exploded, all the other smashers quickly emerged from the side door and began attacking them. Link, Lucario, and Pit stood on the edge and fired projectiles at the enemies below. A deadly combination of a bomb, a Palutena arrow, and an aura sphere destroyed the Pit clone. The smashers soon destroyed the subspace force before they got the chance to retreat.

Most of the smashers went back inside. Sonic, Kirby, and Pikachu remained out. Sonic stayed to look for anyone else that could have escaped. Pikachu was staring at the trophy of Samus. Kirby was just staying to make sure everything was alright. Sonic ran back up to Lucario and said. "The trophies aren't giving off mist. I couldn't find anyone else as well."

Link smiled as he ran down to reunite with Zelda. Pikachu also seemed to have heard since Pikachu walked up to Samus to bring her back. Lucario said, "I'll just double check to make sure it is safe." He looked around for a little until he froze when he saw the trophies. The second Pikachu touched Samus's base, Lucario shouted. "WAIT!"

Pikachu looked up at Lucario. Suddenly, Pikachu felt something grab him. He looked at Samus who stared at him. Samus went on to smash Pikachu into the ground. Pikachu screamed, and was then replaced by a trophy. Link had just exited the Halberd when he saw this. Samus turned to him and prepared a charge shot. Link dashed as fast as he could back in. Kirby also hurried into the Halberd. Samus fired at the duo. Link slammed the door shut. A few seconds later, the door bent in.

Lucario looked up and saw Falcos, Foxes, and Wolves drop off dozens of different clones onto the deck. Lucario, Pit, and Sonic ran inside as the copies ran after them. Lucario slammed the door shut, but it was soon ripped off by about a dozen quick punches from Donkey Kongs. Lucario shut another door as Nana came by. When they forced that door open as well, Nana froze the first few clones in the doorway.

Link fought off a Marth copy. He knew that it wasn't the actual one misted, but he fought like he was the real one. Marth knocked Link's sword out of his hands, and quickly began swinging at Link. Link dodged a few before Marth kicked him. Marth got ready to stab Link, but he was suddenly smashed into the side of the ship. Kirby put his hammer away as he gave Link his sword.

They saw Lucas as they made their way to the bridge. Lucas had just finished fighting a copy of himself, and he looked exhausted. Link and Kirby ran down the hallway and toward Lucas, but a subspace arrow suddenly pierced Lucas through the chest. Something grabbed Lucas's trophy. Link and Kirby turned the corner and ran into a few copies guarding what was taking Lucas.

The Link and Kirby duo were able to defeat those that they fought. They were going to keep going, but Sonic suddenly ran up and kicked the two to the sides. Sonic flipped upside down, and another arrow passed between Sonic's legs. Sonic yelled, "Follow me," as he began to go back.

"They got Lucas," Link said.

"We can't help him now come on." Sonic looked down a hallway and kicked a Charizard. Link sighed as he followed Sonic to the bridge. They rode up on the elevator and came up to see the others fighting Meta Knights, Pits, and Charizards. The glass had been completely destroyed. The real Pit was firing arrows at some that were flying outside. Lucario launched an aura sphere at Meta Knights that were trying to get in. All of the others were fighting people that had managed to get in.

Link got an arrow ready and shot it at a Pit's wing. Pit turned around and smiled when he saw Link. Kirby swallowed and gained Link's archery abilities. Sonic kicked a Pit that had made it in out the window. Link stabbed a Meta Knight. Ness burnt a Charizard, followed by Nana freezing it.

Despite the smashers best efforts, they were slowly getting overwhelmed. A few of the Pit's landed multiple arrows on the real Pit. Nana and Ness were both thrown across the room. Meta Knight was having an intense duel with himself while avoiding arrows from Pits. Link ended the duel by slicing Meta Knight in the head. Meta Knight flew out and began attacking the Pits.

Link turned around as he saw the elevator begin to close. Link had an idea to keep the others away for a while. He stopped it from closing. He then dumped the majority of his bombs into the elevator. He sent it to where the clones would be waiting and lit a long fuse. He then go out and helped the others as they fought the others. Link heard the explosion as he fought Charizard.

"Aim for the wings of any coming in," Link said as he defeated Charizard. Kirby was defending the injured Nana and Ness as a Meta Knight tried to finish them off. Half of the smashers were laying against the wall. Only Meta Knight, Sonic, Link, and Kirby were still fine. The others that were hurt offered help by using any projectiles they could muster. Kirby defeated the Meta Knight and was now fighting a Charizard. Meta Knight and Sonic teamed up against another Charizard. Link was left to fire arrows at the last two remaining Pits outside.

Kirby used his hammer to launch the Charizard into a wall. Kirby still had Link's archery abilities and fired an arrow at one of the remaining Pits. The other one watched his comrade fall, and was hit by an arrow from Link. Meta Knight caught Charizard in a tornado. When Charizard got out, Sonic smashed him into the wall. They looked around and realized that they had defeated all of them.

Meta Knight found a spot next to Kirby and sat down. "How did we defeat all of those clones?" He said between breaths.

Pit held up two of his fingers and said. "Two (cough) reasons. They didn't all come in at once, and they fought like individuals, not a team."

They noticed that the elevator was coming up. Link walked over and opened the doors manually. When he had enough room, he grabbed his sword and cut the cable. They heard screams as the elevator crashed into the ground below.

A few of them laughed as Link sat back down. They were silent for a little while until Ness said, "Wait where's Lucas?"

Several of them checked around the room to see if Lucas was hiding somewhere. "You might as well stop searching," Link said. They all turned to him as he spoke again. "They got him."

The smashers looked back and forth between each other. They had been sad when they lost Pikachu, but Lucas was only a kid. He had been through a lot in his old world. They weren't sure how much more he could take.

The smashers rested for a few minutes. Some of them even got some sleep (especially Sonic) when Meta Knight heard something. Link and Kirby had stayed awake as well and watched as Meta Knight moved toward the elevator shaft. He tried to force the doors open and eventually Link helped him. With the doors open, Meta Knight, Link, and Kirby looked down at what was below.

The elevator was coming up. About six or seven Samuses had somehow attached themselves to the elevator and were using plasma whips to slowly pull themselves up with the elevator. Multiple others were on the elevator as well, and a ROB noticed the smashers looking down on them. It bumped a Donkey Kong and pointed up. Donkey Kong grabbed a subspace cannon, aimed, and fired.

The smashers dove out of the way as the arrow crashed into the ceiling. Meta Knight looked at Link. "Wake up the others," he said. As Link ran to the sleeping smashers, Meta Knight climbed onto the outside of the bridge and searched for a way to climb up.

Link woke the others up and attempted to close the elevator doors. He jumped back as another arrow was fired. Link pulled out a few bombs and threw them down the shaft. When they exploded, Link quickly grabbed the doors and slammed them shut.

Meta Knight looked at the others and said, "Come here." They ran over as Meta Knight flew onto the roof. "We need to stay up here so we can prevent getting overwhelmed."

Sonic, Link, and Kirby all jumped up, but the injured couldn't make it. Pit and Lucario lifted the two kids up. Then, Pit insisted on Lucario going up first. Pit continued to try and get up, but his wings had been injured and he had a fairly short normal jump. Link said to Lucario, "Grab my legs." When Lucario did, Link reached out for Pit.

"I can't reach," Pit said.

"Come on. You need to give me one good jump," Link said. Pit stopped for a little before bending and leaping. Link grabbed Pit's hand. Pit smiled as he realized he had made it. His smile vanished when an arrow pierced him through the chest. Link tried to hold on, but Pit slipped from his hand and fell onto the deck as a trophy.

Link just stared at the trophy, and Lucario was forced to pull Link back up. Link stared off into space and murmured, "My fault. I could have held on. I could have saved Lucas. I could have helped Pikachu."

"No you couldn't have," Lucario said. "What you could have done is gotten captured, and then quickly killed."

Link continued to stare at the distance, but what someone said brought him back "Dedede?"

Ness was looking off far away where a sudden flash appeared. Link and the others looked where Ness was, and another flash of light appeared from somewhere. Dedede was standing by Mario, Ike, Marth, and Snake far away. Tabuu was floating in the air. He fired a subspace cannon at the Fire Emblem people, and had them dragged off. He then picked up a different gun and pointed it at Dedede.

When he fired it, Dedede bent over and grabbed his chest. He soon collapsed onto his knees and grabbed his chest with both of his hands. He let his hands fall to his side and he looked straight up at Tabuu. Dedede then got back onto his feet. The smashers heard something, but they didn't understand what it was. They watched as a light came from the middle of his chest and spread. There was a blinding flash of light, and when the smashers could see again, they saw that Dedede was gone.

Ness ran to the edge of the roof with Kirby at his side. "No no no no," Ness said.

He started to shake as Meta Knight went to comfort Kirby. Nana walked to Ness and said, "I-I…-It's okay. Everything will be fine."

"No," Ness said. "No he was my friend. He saved my life, along with everyone else's." He turned quickly to Lucario. "You can see hidden aura. Can you see him anywhere?"

Lucario hesitated for a little, but he searched around. After a few seconds he turned to Ness. "There is nothing."

Tears started forming in Ness's eyes as he continued to shake and murmur, "No no no no." He continued to shake until he screamed, "NNOOOOOOO!"

They saw someone's hand grab onto the roof. Link quickly fired an arrow as the person's head came into view. Kirby fired as another came into view. The smashers moved back as some of the clones climbed over. Ness walked forward with tears still in his eyes as they got pushed further back. "Ness!" Nana shouted. "What are you doing!?"

Ness stopped in front of them and shouted "PK STAR…"

A subspace arrow hit Ness before he could finish. The trophy flew back a few feat. As a Samus grabbed Ness, Link screamed, "YOU WILL TAKE NO ONE ELSE!" Link held up the back of his hand. Samus was suddenly trapped in a large triforce symbol, and Link dashed forward. Someone tried shooting Link with a subspace cannon, but Link destroyed the arrow with the swing of his sword. Many of the nearby clones were bashed around and were shot out when Link stopped. Link wound back one last time and sent Samus flying after dropping the trophy. All the clones were launched off of the roof to some extent.

Link fell to his knees as Nana rushed over and revived Ness. As another hand grabbed the rooftop, Link said, "Make sure no one else gets on this roof."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Execution

Fox watched from his spot as about a dozen arwings flew past him. From the direction they were heading, it looked like the Halberd would be having some visitors. He thought for a little, and then decided he would spy on Tabuu.

He was able to blend in and was surprised at how little the force guarding Tabuu was. He eventually found where Tabuu was.

Tabuu was in a valley beneath the cliffs Fox currently was standing on. He was with Porky, Ridley, Petey Piranha, Ganondorf, Bowser, Wario, and Wolf, who was watching the top of the cliffs. Tabuu had also brought Duon and Galleom. Fox dove out of the way and behind some subspace rocks as Wolf started searching near where Fox was. Tabuu was messing with a gun that seemed to be like a shotgun. He shouted, "Finally, I have created it!"

"Master," Ganondorf said. "What exactly is that?"

Tabuu stared down at him. "The only way you will truly understand, is with a demonstration." He snapped his fingers and a Sonic appeared. "Who have you been able to collect so far?"

"The trap only succeeded in capturing Pikachu, but we managed to acquire Lucas as well. They shouldn't be able to fight clones that are exactly as strong as the smashers they copied." Fox gasped a little and Wolf looked at the rocks where Fox hid himself.

"Fine," Tabuu said. "Bring me King Dedede, Mario, Snake… Ike, and Marth." The Sonic nodded and then dashed off.

Wolf turned back to Tabuu. "If I may my lord," He said. "I would like to check something."

Tabuu thought about for a second before saying, "You may, but be back here before I am ready to begin." Wolf thanked him and then ran off.

Fox continued to watch, but nothing happened for a while. Fox suddenly felt a blade against his back. "Looks like there was something up here," Wolf said.

Fox chuckled a little, "Kind of funny I think,"

"What's funny?"

"I've turned into a lone wolf, and you are now a loyal dog."

Wolf struggled to keep himself from yelling. "Don't call me a loyal dog. Just think about the position I'm in. What would you do if you knew you had no chance of survival unless you turned against the others?"

"I would have done what I am doing now, because I'm not one that would turn against my friends."

"And what if you had no friends? What if every day, people cheered when you lost, and never cheered when you won? It was easy to turn against them when I didn't have a friend among them."

Fox didn't move much since he was worried what Wolf would do with the knife. "So what are you going to do with me now?"

"Now I tell you that you need to go. The fighters on the Halberd have no chance of survival, and I know that Kirby and Link are on it."

"They could survive."

Wolf continued to press the knife against Fox's back. "Did Link and the others tell you about Tabuu's goals?"

"Yes, and since you knew that Link knows, I'm guessing you are the informer."

Wolf stopped shoving the knife against Fox's back and put it down, "He has created the ultimate subspace form, and dozens of them were sent to finish off the resisting smashers. You are the only one Tabuu hasn't pinned down."

"But I also know about the kill list, and Tabuu just so happened to ask for the three on the list that he has. I have to save my friends." He turned to face Wolf and put a hand on his shoulder. "And I would appreciate your help."

Wolf sighed and said, "Link may not have told you, but I joined Tabuu because I don't think I have a chance resisting him. I still believe I'm right. If you decide to help your friends, good luck."

Wolf turned and walked away. Before Wolf got very far, Fox said, "Something to think about. One of Tabuu's goals involved eliminating the smashers. You may not have a friend among us, but you are a smasher like the rest of us." Wolf stopped for a moment, but he kept going. Fox shifted his attention back to Tabuu.

The Sonic clone hadn't returned with the people yet, and Tabuu was starting to become impatient. Wolf returned after going the long way around. "What took you so long to check on?" Tabuu asked.

"Master Tabuu," Wolf said. "With the clones taking arwings you had acquired, I wanted to see if my Wolfen had also been used."

"I could have told you I used it," Tabuu said.

Wolf had a confused look on his face. "But, Master Tabuu, the Wolfen is with my gear."

Tabuu smiled. "Good, then you haven't lied to me." Sonic looked behind Wolf to see Sonic approaching.

Sonic got down onto his knees. "My lord, they are nearly here." A few seconds passed and the five trophies were delivered wrapped in chains. Tabuu nodded, and Ganondorf brought each one of them back to life.

Tabuu smiled as he looked at King Dedede. "I have been waiting for this for five years now," he said. "I can hardly contain myself. Ever since those brooches of yours brought three of you back to life, I have been awaiting the day I would get revenge."

"What are you going to do?" Dedede asked. "Torture? You tried multiple methods, and they all ended with me laughing in you face. There is no way you can break me down. I have dealt with everything you attempted. You have used all the arrows in your quiver."

"Well if you want to use that comparison, I have just finished building one final arrow. I will enjoy seeing you wither in pain before you are gone forever." He held out his gun. "I get five shots to eliminate five smashers."

"Wait," Wario said. "You can't mean that you are going to kill smashers. We were willing to help because that would keep us out of trophy form, but we can't allow you to kill the others, even the ones who cruel to us."

Tabuu lowered the gun and sighed. "Fine, if you wish, I won't kill Dedede or any other smasher," Wario smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. The others looked surprised that Wario was brave enough to say that. "First."

Tabuu spun around quickly, and fired before Wario had a chance to react. A large crystal stuck out of his chest. Wario grabbed the crystal and attempted to pull it out as he started to glow. He tugged on it, but it refused to come out. Wario collapsed onto the ground as he breathed heavily. He screamed as he did whatever he could to remove the crystal. He continued to glow brighter and brighter until there was a flash of light and then he disappeared.

Fox looked at where Wario once stood, looking for a sign that he hadn't actually been killed. The chained smashers and the villains looked at Tabuu terrified of what he might do. Petey Piranha started walking back slowly before turning around and sprinting away. The gun made a ding noise, and Tabuu shouted, "STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" He pointed the gun at Petey and fired. Petey automatically collapsed onto the ground. He grew brighter quicker than Wario. He let out a mighty roar, and then he was gone as well.

Dedede looked at where Petey had vanished. He tried to explain to himself what happened. He knew smashers shouldn't die, but there wasn't a trophy. Tabuu grabbed a subspace gun. "Now that I have wasted two bullets, I don't need all five." He fired at Ike and Marth. Once they were trophies, they were carried away.

Dedede heard the ding again and turned to Tabuu. Tabuu picked up the other gun. He grinned as he noticed the fear in Dedede's eyes. "Your turn. I am going to enjoy this."

Tabuu aimed the gun and fired the crystal right into the center of Dedede's chest. Dedede fell forward as he grabbed the crystal. He knew it wasn't going to help, but it hurt so much. He got onto his knees, and grabbed at it again.

He suddenly became aware that Tabuu was laughing. Dedede got his arms to work, and he made them fall to his sides as stared Tabuu in the face. Tabuu stopped his laughing as Dedede slowly got back up onto his feet. Dedede started smiling at Tabuu. Tabuu stared at Dedede, as Dedede continued to smile at him. Tabuu finally said, "Bend over. It hurts, so try to stop the pain." Dedede just shook his head. Tabuu burst and yelled, "SHOW ME YOUR PAIN! YELL! SCREAM!"

Dedede again shook his head. A light formed in the middle of his chest. Dedede waved good-bye to everyone there. Dedede's last action was that he turned to Tabuu and took a bow. There was a blinding flash, and then King Dedede was gone.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Rescue

Tabuu breathed heavily as his rage slowly grew. Dedede was practically on his deathbed and he still had mocked Tabuu. He just stared angrily off into the distance until a Sonic clone poked him. "Master Tabuu, the gun is ready for the forth shot." Tabuu turned to the remaining smashers. Even the villains were terrified of what Tabuu was going to do.

Tabuu tried to control his breathing until he was calm again. He then turned to Mario. He stared at him for a little until he had completely gained control again. "Mario," he said. "You really aren't that much of a threat to me. You weren't major in my defeat the last time. However, the others look up to you. If somehow I can't capture everyone, it might hurt them to know that their great hero has died." Tabuu steadied the gun. He aimed it at Mario, and pulled the trigger.

Fox suddenly shot out from a place near the cliff base and kicked the gun. Fox had moved down the cliffs while Dedede was being eliminated. The new target of the bullet sent it straight into Duon. Duon quickly turned bright and disappeared. Fox stared at Tabuu as he landed. Tabuu simply smiled. "Get him."

The sonic clone and Galleom quickly rushed forward, but they were the only ones. Tabuu turned to see that all the other villains had left him. Sonic was sent flying into Tabuu as Tabuu looked for where the villains might have gone. Tabuu turned back around and saw that Fox was beating up Galleom.

Tabuu summoned the Hands and shrunk them down to normal sized gloves. He turned to Fox and held out his hands. Fox froze in midair just as he was about to land the finishing blow. "Hold him up," Tabuu said. Galleom grabbed Fox and tugged on his arms. Tabuu heard the ding again and prepared to fire. Tabuu fired the gun.

Fox closed his eyes and waited for the pain in his chest. He was suddenly dropped. He quickly readjusted so that he landed on his feet and looked up. Galleom had a crystal embedded into his head. Fox looked at Tabuu and saw that Wolf had just landed at kicking the gun. Mario and Snake had both been unchained.

Tabuu looked at Wolf, "So you decided that you will fight me. I respect that you are willing to fight instead of hide, but I am going to kill you no matter what you do now."

"What are you going to do?" Wolf said. "You have four smashers to fight, and you are all alone."

"You do not seem to realize that I am much more powerful than I used to be. The Hands together don't have as much power as me, but they greatly magnify the power I already have. The gun may not have any more power, but I can fix that quickly. I would fight you, but I'd rather just watch your defeat." Tabuu snapped his fingers, and hundreds of clones appeared. "I want to make this fun, so I'll give you a twelve second head start. Go."

The smashers quickly ran off into the distance. It seemed like they had barely started when they heard Tabuu shout, "AFTER THEM!"

Wolf grabbed something from his pocket and started pushing buttons. "What are you doing?" Fox asked.

"I am going to see how well I can stall them. I can get something for you as well."

Fox looked behind him and saw that multiple Sonics, Captain Falcons, and Foxes had nearly caught up to them. "Do it." Wolf pushed a few more buttons before he put the device away.

Snake stopped and placed a mine into the ground. Wolf and Fox stopped and fired at the approaching group with their blasters. They were able to seriously hurt a few, but there were dozens. A Captain Falcon accidentally stepped on Snake's mine and was sent flying back.

As Wolf and Fox continued to fire at the approaching clones, an Arwing and a Wolfen came and landed by them. Wolf and Fox quickly got in and started blasting at the group. Snake and Mario ran in the same direction that Fox had led them. "Why were you heading that way?" Wolf asked.

"The Halberd is this way, and that is where the others are."

"The clones most likely took over the place. It's practically suicide."

"It doesn't matter. Going any other way is suicide as well." As he said that, the Halberd came into view, and it was flying straight toward them. They crossed their fingers and hoped that it was friendly.

They saw some of the guns prepare to fire. A rocket was shot in their direction. Fox and Wolf looked and saw as the rocket passed right between Mario and Snake. Another rocket was fired and it did the exact same thing. Fox zoomed in on something on the deck. He saw Kirby waving. He smiled and told Fox, "We have taken the Halberd."

Fox and Wolf continued to kill the clones chasing Mario and Snake. When they got a large gap between the two groups, Fox and Wolf flew low and gave the two a ride the rest of the way. Once they were a good distance off the ground, the Halberd unleashed more of its guns and began destroying all the clones.

They landed on the deck of the Halberd and were greeted by Kirby, Ness, Nana, and Sonic. "Were you the only ones to survive the attack?" Wolf asked.

"No, Lucario and Meta Knight are in the bridge and flying," Ness said. "Link is also controlling the guns. He's in that hole over there."

"He is doing better than I thought," Sonic said. "I might be able to get some sleep."

"Not likely," Fox said. "He's only getting rid of the fast ones. It's going to be a major problem when the rest of the swarm come. Mario, you stay here. Wolf, Snake, you guys help Link. I'll help Lucario and Meta Knight." Fox ran off toward the bridge before the others could say anything.

Ness walked over to Link while Snake and Wolf followed him. Ness knocked on the hatch and said, "We've got a few more that are going to help."

"Let them in," Link said. Wolf and Snake climbed down a ladder and joined Link in a small crammed room. "Ah, good. I'm guessing one of you two will be able to help me figure out what to do in here."

"Not as much help as you think," Snake said. "I'm surprised you are doing as well as you are."

"I learn really quick. I can pick up a bow and be a master at it in a few minutes, and I've done it multiple times in multiple lives."

"If you're that quick of a learner, then how come you are using only some of the guns?" Wolf asked.

"Because, sometimes, my arrow misses." The three of them started managing all of the guns and they quickly eliminated all the quick ones. Soon, they were firing at the main group. The clones were constantly exploding. One really good shot by Snake took out twenty three at once.

They got most of them, but a few were able to reach the Halberd. The ones that actually had the jump to reach the Halberd began to scale the walls. Mario started dropping fireballs at them. Ness used PK fire to remove others from the side. Kirby absorbed Mario and also began dropping fireballs onto the clones.

As soon as a clone got onto the deck, Sonic or Nana would send them flying off. A Luigi and a Diddy Kong managed to climb on deck together. Nana quickly was able to freeze Diddy Kong and shove him off, but Luigi was ready before she could knock him off. They fought for a while as Nana tried to get the power to knock him off. She tried once, but was interrupted by a fireball. Luigi grabbed Nana and threw her off.

Nana quickly grabbed the edge before she fell. She looked up to see Luigi laugh. He formed a fireball and was about to drop it on Nana when Sonic suddenly knocked him off. Sonic reached out and helped Nana back up. They looked along the side and watched as the last clone fell off from one of Mario's fireballs. Sonic ran along the other edge. When he didn't see anyone, he laid down and said, "Finally, now I can get some sleep. Maybe I'll find something to eat later."

"You will have to wait a little longer," Link said as he climbed out of the hatch."

Wolf came up behind him and was touching his ear. "Fox says that one final ship is coming. He also says that Lucario has detected something hidden in one of this ship's lower rooms."

Sonic sighed. "What does a guy have to do to get sleep."

Ness ignored Sonic and asked, "Which room is it?"

"43b," Wolf said.

"I'll go check," Ness said.

"I'm not sure that's the greatest idea," Link said.

"I can handle it."

"We don't know what's down there."

"I'll go too." The smashers turned and saw Nana was holding her hand up.

Ness shook his head. "I think we can all agree you shouldn't go. You aren't that old."

Nana laughed a little and then said, "Sorry, but you aren't that much older than me. I'm coming with you."

Ness looked at Link and hoped he could get some support, but Link laughed and said, "I think she has you."

Ness sighed. "Alright, lets go." They took the elevator down and started going from door to door. They eventually arrived at the right door and peeked inside. They opened the doors all the way, and were amazed at what they saw. Mr. Game & Watch was strapped to a machine while shadow bugs were being pulled out of him.

Mr. Game & Watch was strapped in tightly to the machine. It was always difficult to say what he seemed like, but he seemed to be exhausted. He looked up at the two and started pulling on the machine. The pulling soon caused electricity to flow through the wires connected to him. He stopped squirming and hung limp as more subspace bugs were pulled out of him and into a large machine.

Ness looked at Nana. "See if you can freeze all the wires connected to him." Nana nodded and began to shoot cold air out of her hand. While the wires were frozen, Ness started tugging on them. When that didn't work, he used PK fire to try and melt them. As the wires melted, Mr. Game & Watch slowly fell to the floor.

Ness and Nana quickly helped Mr. Game & Watch stand up. They carried him into the elevator and took him up to the bridge. There they saw that everyone was gone. They set Mr. Game & Watch down and looked out the front window. Samus were falling out of the skies. Nana and Ness looked at each other before jumping out the window.

On the deck, all the smashers were fighting the army of were falling out of Samuses ship that was floating in the air. Once most of the Samuses had jumped out, it landed on the deck, and another six climbed out.

Sonic kicked one off of the ship as another shot a charged shot at him. He slid back to the very edge as he stopped. The Samus tried to fire a missile, but it was cut by Link's sword. They fought for a while until Sonic joined back in and finished the job. They helped Meta Knight and Kirby as they dealt with a trio of Samuses.

Lucario fought another. He kicked it back and charged its aura sphere. As the Samus ran back at Lucario, Lucario unleashed his aura sphere. The Samus crashed into the wall, but it didn't fall apart into subspace bugs. It turned into a trophy with mist leaving it. Several others noticed and ran to defend the trophy. A Samus clone got to it first, but was knocked away by Mario. Mario tried to defend it, but a few Samuses grabbed him and threw away.

A clone plasma whipped the ledge to the bridge. As it reached the ledge, an arrow embedded into the center of its chest. The trophy had been perched on the very ledge of the bridge. The remaining clones and the smashers rushed to the base of the ledge. They all got together and brawled. If someone was knocked out, they quickly jumped back in.

A Samus that got knocked out of the group looked at a door that led inside. Link spotted her as she ran inside. Link quickly grabbed Nana and chased after the clone. The clone stopped at the elevator and waited for it to come down. She was suddenly tackled by Link. Samus kicked Link off and rushed to the doors again where Nana was now waiting. Link used the claw shot and pulled her back.

The doors opened up. Nana looked back at Link. "I can take her," she said. "Just make sure none of the other clones get to Samus first." Nana nodded and ran into the elevator. As the doors began to close, Samus threw Link into a wall and fired a missile into the elevator. The doors closed on the missile and got stuck. The missile didn't explode, but the elevator couldn't go now.

Link continued to fight Samus as Nana looked for a way to remove the missile. She looked up and saw a hatch. She opened it after a bit of work and climbed up. She could see the doors were closed. She jumped up, but she couldn't reach it. Even if she could, she knew she had no chance of forcing the doors open. She would have to destroy the missile if she wanted to go up.

Link slashed at Samus as she tried to blast him point blank with a charge shot. Samus kicked Link back a little and fired the charge shot. Link held up his shield in time to take the majority of the blast, but he crashed into the end of the hall. Samus began defusing the missile. Once it was defused, she opened the doors. She grabbed the missile, but dropped it when an arrow hit her. She turned back to Link and was surprised when the doors closed with her outside. Link rushed at her and threw a bomb. Before she had time to react, Link slashed her a few more times and then stabbed her through the chest.

Nana was surprised when the elevator started going up. She quickly got back in and noticed that the missile was gone. The doors opened, and she saw that Mr. Game & Watch was still where they had put him. She saw that the trophy was also still there. She ran over and brought it back to life when she made sure it didn't have a mist. Samus looked down at Nana. "No time to explain," Nana said. "The people down there are not with Tabuu, but they need your help."

Samus looked down. She was a little confused when she saw Wolf fighting, but decided that something had to have happened since she was fighting against Samus clones. Samus charged a charge shot and blasted a Samus with it. A few clones looked up at her as she started firing missiles. With her help, the smashers quickly finished off the clones and were surprised when they realized they hadn't lost anybody. Samus looked at Fox, Sonic, and Link and said, "You have some explaining to do."

They were going to start, but Nana said, "Hey guys, look." They looked to where Nana was pointing. It was the edge of the subspace realm. The Halberd passed through. The smashers squinted as the sun came back into view, but they were happy. They were back in the sun.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Last Preparations

After the smashers had defeated the Samus clones, they searched the veichles they had acquired for bugs. When the veichles had been searched, they went to the machine that Mr. Game & Watch had been hooked up. They unhooked it and quickly threw it over the side of the ship. After that, they decided to have a meeting in the bridge to decide their next move. They arrived in the bridge and were about to start when Nana said, "Where's Ness?"

The smashers looked around the room and realized that Ness wasn't with them. Sonic volunteered to go look for him. The others agreed, and he jumped out the window. (While they had fixed the elevator and it was fast, they hadn't fixed the front windows, and Sonic thought that was the faster route.) Sonic quickly ran into Ness's room and found him lying on his bed. "Hey Ness, we are meeting in the bridge, and we want everyone," Sonic said. Ness just sighed.

Sonic sat down on Ness's bed. "Are you sad about Dedede, Lucas, or both?"

Ness didn't look at Sonic, but he said, "Me and Lucas may both be kids and be from the same place, but we are from different timelines. We never did get very close. Dedede, on the other hand, saved my life, along with everyone else's. We became really close friends because of that. I'm not sure how he felt about me, but I looked up to him because of what he did. Now, because of what he did, he's dead."

Sonic tried to think of something to do or say. He had seen the people that Eggman had hurt, but they were usually physical injuries instead of emotional. Tabuu had cut Ness deep. Sonic finally was able to pat Ness and say, "There, there." Ness wasn't crying, but he made no attempt to get up. Sonic finally said, "Listen, Tabuu has control of the people closest to matching his power. He wants to get rid of every last one of us. Do you want to help Dedede?"

"I can't. He's dead."

"Saving him isn't the only way to help Dedede. Dedede wanted Tabuu stopped about as much as anyone. He made the brooches. When Kirby and his group found Dedede, he told them important information. Dedede resisted Tabuu's torture; I saw some of the torture myself. And Fox said that Dedede resisted Tabuu 'til the end. The best thing we can do is help finish what Dedede started."

Ness continued to just lay there. Sonic finally gave up and began to leave. Just before he was out the door, he turned back around and said, "Every person counts. Without your help, Dedede may not be the last friend you lose."

Sonic shut the door and left Ness in the room. He took the elevator up and joined the other smashers. Some of them were surprised to see him arrive alone. "Where's Ness?" Mario asked.

Sonic shrugged and said, "He's taking losing Dedede extremely bad. We're just going to have to make plans without him."

Wolf said, "Alright, everyone gather around. I'm conducting this one." Meta Knight stared at Wolf. "With permission from others. The first thing is we want to know exactly why Tabuu sent an actual smasher to attack the Halberd." He turned to Samus along with everyone else.

Samus (she had taken her suit off) looked at some of the others before she said, "Tabuu didn't send me. Somehow, I was able to fight the mist. I wasn't strong enough to beat it, but I gave it the idea that Tabuu had sent us to go as well."

Wolf continued, "Now that you have explained, we have decided that it would be a good idea to try and gather the smashers that Tabuu has spread out."

"Why has Tabuu spread out some of the smashers?" Sonic asked.

"Tabuu was going to find a way to let you know about certain smashers and then use them as a trap. He didn't think you would target the Halberd or that he would be successful in completing some goals so quickly."

"So which ones are available for retrieval?" Ness asked as he got out of the elevator.

"Ness," Nana said as she ran over and gave him a hug.

"The ones Tabuu hasn't brought in are Zelda, Peach, Olimar, Jigglypuff, Toon Link, Red, and Popo."

Nana immediately let go of Ness and looked at Wolf. "Popo," she said. She ran into the center of the room and said, "We can get my brother back. Where exactly is he?"

Wolf was about to tell her, but Fox said, "I'm not sure that is the best move."

Nana turned to Fox. "We have a chance to rescue him."

"I agree with Fox," Link said. "Tabuu is most likely using him as bait. He expects us to want to go after him. The same goes for Zelda, Peach, and Toon Link. The ones that he most likely won't think we will go after are Olimar, Red, and Jigglypuff."

Nana looked at Link. Link could see that tears were starting to form in her eyes. "No. You promised that you would help me save my brother." She turned to the rest of the group. "Most of us here have lost important people. We were hurt by losing someone we cared about or who cared for us. Samus, you never knew your true parents. Fox, you haven't seen your dad in a long time. Ness, Kirby, you both cared for Dedede. Popo is just as important to me. I know if any of those you cared about were in the same situation you would help them. Please help me."

The room was quiet for a little. Lucario finally said, "We need to have an official vote. All who agree with Nana." Nana raised with her hand. Mr. Game & Watch raised his along with Mario, Sonic, Kirby, and Ness. "All against." Lucario raised his hand. The others were Snake, Meta Knight, Wolf, Link, and Samus.

Everyone turned to Fox. Nana was on her knees repeating over and over "Please." Wolf said, "You know we can't risk it."

"Did no one tell you what she went through?" Sonic said. "She's too young to hurt as mush as she has."

"Do you realize how we have all been through more than we should," Samus said. "Except for maybe you."

"Eggman locked all my friends up in robots and turned them into slaves. I for a long time believed that Shadow had died. You never really knew your parents."

"You cannot mock me. It doesn't surprise me you chose the children. You never really grew up."

"HEY," Link said. "THAT'S ENOUGH." He turned to Fox. "What is your decision?"

Fox looked up, "Strategically, it would be better to not go for Popo. I'm sorry, but that is my decision."

Nana shook her head. Her face slowly showed her anger. She looked at the ones that voted against her. She stopped when she reached Meta Knight. "You're no better than the clone that dragged my brother off." She ran to the elevator. She looked back at Link and yelled, "You LIED to me!" Ness ran to the elevator, but ended up encased in ice.

Link, Fox, Meta Knight, and the ones who supported Nana stared at the elevator. Kirby swallowed Ness and spat him back out once all the ice had melted.

They slowly joined the group again. Ness was the last one to join the group again. They had decided that they would go after both Red and Olimar. They had also began in creating the teams. "What are we going to do with Link and Kirby?" Fox asked. "We can't put them all into one group."

"I'm not sure we can send them on a mission at all," Wolf said.

"Then we keep them on the Halberd." Lucario said. "I'll stay as well to make sure everything remains alright."

"We could leave Nana here since she probably won't want to go."

"Beep boop bop bop," Mr. Game & Watch said.

"Are you sure you want to stay?" Fox asked.

"Beep."

"Then what are the other two teams going to be?" Snake asked."

"Poyo poy po poy po po poyo po po po po," Kirby said.

All the smashers looked at him. "You said Fox, Sonic, Ness, and Samus in one group, right?" Link said.

"Po."

"Then that would leave Wolf, Snake, Meta Knight, and Mario," Lucario said.

"I like the groups," Wolf said. "All in favor." They raised their hands unanimously. "Then if you don't mind, I would like to get ready." They all headed toward the elevator, when Mr. Game & Watch pointed out the window and said, "Beep, beep, beep."

They all looked out the window and watched as the Arwing lifted off the ground. From where they stood, they could see Nana's head. They continued to stare until the Arwing blasted off. Meta Knight rushed to the radio. "Nana, you need to turn back."

"I'm not talking to you!"

Meta Knight held it out to Ness. Ness grabbed it and said, "Nana, please come back."

"I need to save my brother."

"You don't know where it is."

"I looked at the map while Sonic and Samus argued."

"You can't do it on your own."

"But you guys never will. I have to try. I'd rather crash than sit around while I know I have a chance to rescue my brother. I'm sorry, but I have to go."

Ness held the radio for a little bit. The connection was starting to get worse as Nana slowly got farther away. Soon they wouldn't be able to talk her out of it. Ness set it down and walked away. Fox hesitated before grabbing it. "Nana, this is Fox."

"I'm not talking to you either."

"I know, but there is something I need to say before you are out of range. Good luck."

Fox set it down. They didn't hear anything. Finally, they heard Nana say, "Thank you," before she was out of range.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Visitors

Link, Kirby, Lucario, and Mr. Game & Watch sat on the Halberd for hours as they waited for the others to return. During that time, they had finally fixed the front window. Now, they were just sitting around, waiting for the others to return. They tried talking about Nana, but they were all soon uncomfortable with the topic, and had to switch to a new one.

It was soon night time. They became curious as to how many days it had been since Tabuu had ambushed them at the zoo. They discovered they were finishing the fifth day and were going on to the sixth. After that, they decided they would sleep on the bridge. Soon, the smashers began getting some of the sleep they had been missing out on.

During the night, Kirby woke up and realized how hungry he was. It was the hungriest he had been since he was a part of that competition between him, Ike, Link, Sonic, and Fox. He searched the Halberd until he found a refrigerator. He was still hungry after he ate all the food in it. He hesitated before he finally swallowed the fridge whole.

Kirby snuck back up to the bridge. He tried hard not to wake any of the other three up. He made it past Mr. Game & Watch and Link without a problem. As he passed Lucario, he heard him say, "That was a bit much for a midnight snack." Kirby couldn't believe he forgot Lucario doesn't sleep.

They continued to sleep. Lucario suddenly sat up and began waking the others up. Kirby looked up and said, "Poyo poy poyo."

Lucario turned to him after waking up Mr. Game & Watch. "We have visitors."

Link turned to the window as the Falcon Flier landed on the deck. Link could see that there were about ten people that got out. Link turned to Lucario. "I think they have a clone of you." Lucario nodded and released tons of aura. The clones on the deck looked at another that did seem to be a Lucario. The Lucario look-a-like shook its head.

Link turned to the ones in the bridge. "How do they know where we are?"

Lucario thought for a little before he turned to the Samus suit they had left on the bridge. "I wonder." He looked through the suit until he pulled out a small black device. "Looks like we have a bug." Lucario put the bug on the table. "Now what do we do with it?"

"Poy po poyo poy, "Kirby said as he brought his hammer down on the bug. The lights on the Falcon Flier suddenly flashed.

Link looked out the window as two went into the ship. They soon came back out and pointed straight at Link. "They know exactly where we are."

Lucario turned to Mr. Game & Watch. "I need you to go down there and ambush one of the clones. Do you understand?"

"Beep," Mr. Game & Watch said as he ran into the elevator. He got out and hid around a corner. He could see someone's shadow headed in his direction. When it was really close, Mr. Game & Watch jumped out from the corner and hit a Snake clone. He pulled out a card, and saw the number on it. It was a 1.

Snake flinched slightly before he grabbed Mr. Game & Watch. He was going to punch him, but Link jumped out and knocked him over. Link and Mr. Game & Watch ran back to the elevator. On the way, Link said, "A 1! Seriously!"

They got to the elevator. Link pressed the button to go up. As they waited, A Bowser clone collided into Link. Link kicked him off. Mr. Game & Watch turned toward where the Bowser had come from. It was being followed by a Donkey Kong. Mr. Game & Watch engaged the monkey.

As they battled the beasts, the elevator opened. Link and Mr. Game & Watch made a dash for the elevator. As they ran in, they quickly closed the doors behind them. They rode up to the top where Kirby and Lucario were waiting. They were both staring at the ceiling. Lucario shot an aura sphere up into the roof. A Falco suddenly came falling out of the ceiling.

Lucario turned to Link. "We have a problem. There seems to be more than one Falcon Flier. Seven more are getting ready to drop people off onto the Halberd."

"Then we need to get to the guns," Link said.

"Most guns face forward. We would need someone to stay here and turn the ship around."

"Then Kirby can protect Mr. Game & Watch as he turns the ship around. You and I can go down to the guns. We can wait for when they all head inside."

Lucario was going to disagree, but the other two had already agreed to the idea. Link broke the front window, again, and jumped down onto the deck. He was headed to where the gun controls were, when he heard something in the ship. He hid as a Wolf clone came out to inspect the noise. The Wolf looked around for a little before heading back into the ship. Lucario charged an aura sphere. When it was fully powered, he snuck up onto the deck. Before Wolf could react, Lucario blasted him. He tried to get up, but Lucario finished him off with Link's help.

Link ran over to the hole that contained the gun controls. Lucario lifted the hatch up. Link jumped down and got some of the guns ready. Lucario said, "It's pointless to be getting ready when you can't even fire at them."

"I know, but I need to be ready when the Halberd is turned around."

Up on the bridge, Mr. Game & Watch was twisting the steering wheel to turn the ship around. He was trying to keep it turning, when the elevator suddenly opened. Kirby turned and barely smacked a Donkey Kong back into the elevator before he could let out a punch. Donkey Kong knocked over the other four in the elevator. Kirby quickly ran in and pressed the first floor button. The doors closed, and the clones were sent to the bottom of the Halberd.

Kirby looked back at Mr. Game & Watch as he struggled to keep the ship turning. They were turning sharply, but they were also going very slow. Kirby thought about it and realized that they were in trouble. The clones were going to be coming back up soon, and either they would defeat him and Mr. Game & Watch, or they would stall long enough for the others to arrive.

Kirby looked up and saw that the elevator had already reached the bottom floor. He thought about how King Dedede said to do everything he could to avoid being captured, but it didn't look like there was a way out. Samus and Wolf had taken the remaining ships with them on their missions. He was going to be captured. But he might be able to stop the others from getting captured.

The doors opened, and Kirby rushed in. The clones were so surprised, Kirby was able to send them back to the first floor before any of them could react. Mr. Game & Watch could hear people colliding with the sides of the elevator as it made its way back down. Mr. Game & Watch tugged harder on the wheel and got it turned all the way around.

As it finished off, Mr. Game & Watch turned to the elevator. It was making its way back up, but there wasn't any fighting. The doors opened and showed Marth, Bowser, and a misted Kirby. Mr. Game & Watch got ready for battle as the three of them stepped out.

Mr. Game & Watch tried to figure out a way that he could defeat Kirby. They may be able to copy him now, but Kirby could still be rescued. Mr. Game & Watch pulled out a hammer and charged the group. Kirby charged as well. They're hammers collided, and shattered. Mr. Game & Watch pulled out his match and smacked Kirby as he tried to attack. Kirby flew into Bowser and sent the two of them back.

Marth ran forward and tried to hit Mr. Game & Watch, but he was stopped by a sausage. Marth rolled out of the way of another coming toward him. Mr. Game & Watch turned toward Marth but was hit by Marth's attack. Bowser used the opportunity to swipe at Mr. Game & Watch. Mr. Game & Watch jumped up quickly and smashed down on Bowser with the key. When Marth tried to hit Mr. Game & Watch again, Mr. Game & Watch picked him up and juggled him before throwing him away.

Mr. Game & Watch saw that Kirby was trying to fix his hammer. Bowser took advantage of Mr. Game & Watch's distraction and sent him launching out of the window. Marth walked over to the window to look at where Mr. Game & Watch went flying out. He looked down and noticed that Lucario was down on the deck.

He was wondering what Lucario was doing on the deck by himself. He became even more surprised when the Halberd guns started firing at the reinforcements. Soon, all the other ships were destroyed. He was wondering what Lucario was doing until the others returned, including the actual Lucario clone.

Marth yelled "SMASHERS!" and jumped down with Kirby and Bowser. Lucario looked up to see the three up there jump down. Lucario looked at the other four that were heading toward them. They consisted of the other Lucario, Snake, Pit, and Captain Falcon.

He turned to Marth and Bowser, and he was shocked when he saw Kirby was with them. He murmured to himself, "One left." The Bowser immediately charged Lucario. Lucario launched a fully charged aura sphere and watched as the Bowser clone fell apart. "You seem to have already forgotten that my aura is your greatest weakness."

The others looked at each other for a second. Once the Pit clone realized that Lucario was already charging another aura sphere, Pit yelled, "CHARGE!" As they all ran at Lucario to begin the fight, Lucario launched his new aura sphere at the Pit clone and watched it fall apart.

The Lucario clone stayed back and began charging an aura sphere as the others began fighting Lucario. Lucario began hitting Snake, but was interrupted by a falcon punch. Lucario jumped over an attempt by Kirby to hit Lucario with his newly repaired hammer. Lucario smacked Captain Falcon across the face and rolled out of the way of Marth's sword. Lucario rolled onto a mine that snake laid and flew up into the air. Marth tried to take advantage of it and hit Lucario. Lucario quickly smashed Marth into the ground before he could successfully land a hit.

The Lucario clone jumped into the air and launched the aura sphere. The real Lucario didn't see it until it connected. Lucario flew and barely landed on the side of the deck. Snake fired his missile launcher and knocked him off the rest of the way. Lucario tried to use his abilities to get back on, but he didn't quite reach and fell to the ground.

They turned to the hatch that contained the gun controls. Snake opened it up and looked down to see a large hole in the floor that went through the bottom of the ship. Snake dropped a grenade down the hole, closed the hatch and waited for the explosion. Once he heard the grenade go off, he looked in again and still didn't see anyone. Snake looked up. "Looks like Link decided he wanted to go skydiving. Lucario, do you think you can figure out where he would have landed."

Lucario nodded and began searching. Suddenly, Mr. Game & Watch appeared and hit Lucario. He pulled out a card with the number 9 on it. Lucario was launched off the platform. Marth smiled and said, "Looks like someone wants a rematch."

They were about to fight when Captain Falcon said, "Wait. Did the real Lucario turn into a trophy, or did he just fall off?" The others turned to him. "If he didn't turn into a trophy, he could be able to find Link."

The others thought about it for a little. Snake finally said, "This one doesn't matter as much as Link. I say we begin searching." The others agreed. They got onto the Falcon Flier and left Mr. Game & Watch alone on the deck.

Mr. Game & Watch watched as the Falcon Flier flew off and eventually descended beneath the clouds. He started heading back inside to try and communicate with the others, when he heard some grunting from the gun control room. He looked over and saw Link pull himself out with one arm. His left arm looked as if it had been hurt.

Mr. Game & Watch rushed over and helped Link out the rest of the way. Link fell onto the deck and started coughing. His legs and left arm had been cut up, but he was alright besides that. He murmured softly, "Did they seriously forget how powerful and strong my shield is."

Mr. Game & Watch helped Link get up to the bridge. Once they got there, Link contacted both the teams to figure out which team was closer. They discovered that Wolf was closer. They told them they lost Kirby, but he needed to look for Lucario on the ground.

* * *

Wolf landed the wolfen on the ground. Mario, Olimar, Snake, and Meta Knight got out. Wolf said, "I'll look around from the air," and then flew off. Snake headed off toward a nearby hill. He looked around but still didn't see anything. He went down by a river and looked around.

He looked around for a little bit, but he still couldn't see Lucario. He decided that he would get a quick drink before continuing his search. He got a handful of water and was about to drink it, when he noticed part of the water was a bit red. He looked upstream and began walking there. He got around a bit of a hill and saw a bashed up Lucario washing his foot.

Snake walked over and said, "What happened?"

Lucario quickly got into a fighting stance before he realized it was the real Snake. He relaxed and said, "I cut my foot on a rock." Snake began to laugh. "What is funny about me receiving pain."

"Nothing, it's just that you were bashed around by the clones, and the injury that causes you to bleed is cutting your foot on a rock." Snake laughed a little more before getting on his communicator. "Wolf, I found him."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Final Plans

They all met back in the Halberd's bridge. Link, Lucario, and Mr. Game & Watch told the others of the events that led to Kirby's capture. Mr. Game & Watch spoke the most since Lucario had suffered from the fall and Link was trying to heal his arm. "So what do we do now?" Samus said. "We lost Kirby and Nana hasn't returned. We didn't improve our chances."

"Then we'll have to do the best we can with what we have," Fox said.

"Actually, we may have a chance to get more smashers before we face Tabuu," Wolf said. The others turned to him. "What Tabuu meant by, 'Let the games begin.' was he would put the smashers he had in a tournament to see who the strongest was. It would be single elimination. If you lose, you're dead."

Some of the smashers gasped. Fox said, "How will that increase the number of smashers we have."

"Some of the smashers will be near the arena so they can go as soon as they have to. We can recruit the smashers that are getting ready to fight."

"We still have tactical problems," Snake said. "We need to cripple Tabuu's wings. One set of off waves and we are finished. We also need to figure out a way to make Tabuu want to get involved in the fight. If he doesn't want to, he sends his entire army to fight and stands on the side and watches."

"I could spin dash and take out his wings just like I did the last time," Sonic said.

"He'll be ready for it this time."

"We have everyone still alive on his kill list," Ness said. "With the exception of Link, we send everyone in to fight."

"That isn't good enough. Tabuu won't be in a rush to gather the rest of us with the army he's building."

"Actually," Link said. "I think Ness mentioned something that could help accomplish both of the tasks."

"What?"

"Me. I can go as well"

They all groaned once Link said that. "Do you realize how horrible of an idea that is?" Wolf said.

"Well here's what I'm thinking," Link said. "Tabuu obviously has a plan. He has goals that he wants to accomplish. There is one thing that is keeping him from being able to successfully accomplish a few goals. According to the goals Wolf told us," Everyone turned to look at Wolf. "Three of the goals can only be accomplished if he captures me. He can't kill me if I'm not captured, I'm the last of the final three, and I am the last piece needed to unlock the vault."

Snake thought this over. He finally said, "That gives Tabuu a reason to stay, but how would that prevent Tabuu from using the off waves? If we can't figure out a way past his off waves, we can't defeat him."

"Tabuu would likely expect me to stay on the Halberd and away from the action. He wouldn't be ready from a sneak attack from behind. If I can get into the right position, I can take out his wings."

The smashers discussed for a little. Eventually, Snake got the group to quiet down. "It sounds like you have majority Link. But this is all on you. For us to have a chance, you have to succeed and be right."

Link was happy that he had succeeded in getting his plan approved. Mario suddenly said, "But-a how do we distinguish who-a is a clone and who-a isn't."

Ness quickly said, "We could all go gold. Have our outfits a different color. Once we rescue the other smashers, we can help them apply some sort of gold onto what they have. It could work as a way to distinguish between clones and the real smashers."

* * *

Link grabbed his gold hat and put it on. He was kind of sad to leave his green stuff behind, but he agreed he would do it as well. Link gathered his equipment together. He wished he had his other stuff, especially the jars that contained his potions. He had a feeling he would need them.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The Tournament Begins

Deep in the Subspace Realm, Tabuu stared at the clones that had assembled. He was on a small plateau surrounded by rock columns. Currently, he was wearing the Hands as gloves. "Then Link is the last one," he said.

"Yes sir," A Wolf clone said. "We have lost Olimar and Red though."

"Kirby will just have to fill one of their spots." Tabuu looked down on his arena. "The first match is Donkey Kong versus Ike. Two big guys." Tabuu looked down into the arena. He was about fifteen feet above the floor of the arena. The arena was a depression with ten foot walls everywhere except where Tabuu was.

Donkey Kong and Ike were both dragged out in chains. As soon as they dragged into the middle of the room, clones began taking the chains off of them. The clones took the chains and left the arena. "Let the fight begin."

Ike and Donkey Kong looked at each other. Ike sat down on the ground and looked at his sword. Donkey Kong pulled out a banana from somewhere and began eating. "How about I clarify you position," Tabuu said. "You will fight."

Ike got back up and turned to Tabuu. "I refuse to fight. Obviously, Donkey Kong has made the same decision."

"If you refuse to fight, you are disqualified. And to lose in this tournament means you are dead. If you value your, I suggest you keep fighting."

Ike turned to Donkey Kong and sighed. Donkey Kong signed something to Ike. Ike nodded and they began to fight. Ike quickly began by slashing Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong quickly got back up. Ike charged Donkey Kong, but was launched into the air by Donkey Kong slapping the ground. As Ike flew through the air, Donkey Kong began charging a giant punch. When Ike landed, Donkey Kong hit him with the punch.

Ike was slow in getting up. Donkey Kong charged another punch before he ran at Ike. Ike got up and hit Donkey Kong. Before Donkey Kong could react, Ike grabbed Donkey Kong and threw him in the air right in front of Tabuu. Donkey Kong turned to Tabuu and unleashed the giant punch.

Tabuu caught Donkey Kong's hand a few inches from his face. Donkey Kong quickly realized his mistake. He tried to pull his hand out of Tabuu's grip, but it was too tight. Tabuu grabbed the subspace gun and aimed it right between the eyes. He let go of Donkey Kong as he fired.

Donkey Kong crashed into the ground below. Donkey Kong yanked at the crystal. It didn't budge an inch. Donkey Kong continued to pull as he started turning white. Ike covered his eyes as the light grew too bright. When the light was gone, Ike looked and saw Donkey Kong was gone too.

"This round goes to Ike." Ike turned to say something, but Tabuu aimed the gun straight at him. When it dinged, Tabuu said, "I know those signs he made was the plan. You should be thankful that I don't kill you as well."

Ike heard something behind him and barely saw a subspace cannon fire before an arrow pierced him through the chest. A clone dragged Ike's trophy off of the arena. As Ike was dragged off, Captain Falcon and Falco were brought onto the arena. Tabuu said, "You saw the fight before, so you know what happens if you don't fight. You also know that you better not try anything."

Captain Falcon sighed as he turned to Falco. Falco was already in position to begin the fight. The second Tabuu yelled, "Begin!" the two smashers charged each other and collided. The speed of their moves caused the fighting to go by really quick. Occasionally, the fighting would slow down when one of them used a special move.

After a quick series of colliding feet, Captain Falcon was suddenly smashed into a nearby wall. Falco ran over and landed several more blows. Suddenly, Falco was hit with an uppercut. While Falco was in the air Captain Falcon jumped up and kicked him in the chest. Falco landed on his feet, but was knocked over by a Falcon Kick. Falco quickly rolled away from Captain Falcon. When Falco got up, he pulled out his gun and fired a few shots at him.

Captain Falcon jumped up and hit Falco with another Falcon Kick. Falco rolled out of the way. Falco ran at Captain Falcon without realizing what Captain Falcon was doing. By the time Falco did realize what Captain Falcon was doing, it was too late. Captain Falcon finished yelling, "Falcon Punch!" and hit Falco right in the chest. Falco flew across the arena and crashed into a wall.

Captain Falcon casually walked over to Falco. Falco looked up and slowly got back onto his feet. "You've won, I'm too tired to fight for much longer. Just finish it."

"It isn't over until the opponent is turned into a trophy," Tabuu said. "If you want to finish this, then you will have to completely defeat Falco."

Captain Falcon stared at Falco. "There is one other option." He turned to face Tabuu and said, "I am officially dropping out of this tournament."

Tabuu stared at Captain Falcon. "I told you. If you do not fight you die. You are so close to finishing Falco, and you decide to give up now?"

"I will not send a smasher to the grave. I never should have done this for your entertainment anyways."

Tabuu stared at Captain Falcon. He shouted, "FINE!" aimed his gun, and fired it. Captain Falcon stood there as Tabuu aimed. When the crystal hit, Captain Falcon had to back up to avoid falling over. Captain Falcon tried to remain on both of his feet, but the pain was too much. As he grew brighter, he fell onto his knees. He stared at Tabuu, and then disappeared.

Tabuu released his frustration by firing an energy ball at Falco. Falco's trophy was dragged off as Tabuu announced the next battle. "Nana and Popo."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Confrontation

"He can't do that," Lucas said as he squirmed under the chains. "I know he's evil, but that is cruel. They're brother and sister." Lucas began getting a hand to slip out of the chains.

"We can't do anything," Marth said. "We just have to hope we survive."

Lucas did his best to turn and face Marth. "Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, and Ike all tried fighting and resisting Tabuu. There are smashers that aren't under Tabuu's control and continue to fight. I want to fight."

"You have no chance of success," R.O.B. said. "One person will never be enough to defeat him."

"Yoshi," Yoshi said. Lucas looked at Yoshi and smiled.

"Even if you do help Lucas, you still have no chance."

Out in the arena, Tabuu shouted, "Let the battle begin."

Lucas looked down at Nana and Popo. "So you're going to just let them die."

"No, we won't." They all turned to see Fox. "We take Tabuu down now, before it costs any more lives."

Lucas was about to say something, but Marth said, "Wait, how can we know if you're the real Fox."

Fox smiled and pointed to a rock column pretty far out. They all saw something on the column, but R.O.B. was the only one that could see who the person was. "Link."

"We are going to finish this now," Fox said. "But to have the best chances, we'll need everyone we can get."

Lucas and Yoshi quickly agreed. Marth turned to R.O.B. "What do you think?"

R.O.B. thought it over. "We have very little chance of success, but it's the best chance we'll get. I will help fight."

"Then I will too," Marth said.

"I TOLD YOU TO FIGHT!" Tabuu shouted.

The smashers turned and saw that both of the ice climbers were scared, but they weren't fighting. "We need to go before Tabuu kills them," Fox said. He led the newly rescued smashers to where the others were waiting.

Tabuu shouted, "YOU SHOULD THANK ME FOR THE CHANCES I HAVE GIVEN YOU ALREADY!" Tabuu stopped and breathed in deeply. "This is your last chance to fight. I suggest you take advantage of this."

Popo turned to Nana. "I'm sorry." He turned to Tabuu. "I quit."

"No, I quit," Nana said.

"Too late I quit first."

"Then unquit."

"No."

"Do it."

"You can't make me."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"You're such a jerk."

"La la la la la."

"HEY!" Tabuu shouted. "Since both of you have quit, you must both be killed."

"But he unquit," Nana said.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Then do it."

"No."

"You're such a…"

"La la la la la."

"Stop doing that."

"No. La la la la la"

"La la la la la."

"You can't do that. I'm doing it."

"I can do it if I want."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"HEY! SHUT UP!" The Ice Climbers immediately stopped and looked up at Tabuu. "Both of you have dropped out. Since Popo dropped out first, I will kill him first."

"You're going to waste bullets you could use to kill me." Tabuu turned to see Sonic. Right behind Sonic were the other free smashers, either dressed in gold or they had covered themselves somehow in gold. Even Lucas, Marth, R.O.B., and Yoshi were covered in gold.

Tabuu smiled. "You should have used surprise more effectively. I'll wipe all of you out, then, I will begin by killing you." Tabuu set the subspace gun down onto the ground. He formed his wings and opened them wide. Before he could get a wave off, an arrow flew through one of his wings. The wing was destroyed with nothing left. Tabuu started turning until another arrow did the exact same thing to his other wing.

Tabuu turned around saw Link standing on a rock column, getting another arrow ready. Tabuu smiled. "The last smasher." Tabuu quickly flew towards the rock column. Link jumped off the rock column as Tabuu crashed into it. Sonic ran over and pulled Link up as Link. Tabuu turned around and looked at the assembled group. "GET THEM!"

The clones that had helped in the arena ran out and started climbing up the plateau. Behind Tabuu, thousands of clones started approaching from a distance. A missile suddenly crashed into a large group of the distant clones. The Halberd flew into view. Meta Knight flew the ship as Mr. Game & Watch fired the guns.

Lucario charged an aura sphere. He looked over the edge at a Donkey Kong clone. He held up the aura sphere and threw down onto Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong slipped off and crashed into the ground. Link, Mario, and Fox ran towards where several clones of Falco, Diddy Kong, and Snake had climbed up.

Tabuu saw Link was distracted. He formed a laser ball and fired it straight at him. Yoshi jumped in the way of the blast and was knocked off as a trophy. Link turned to Tabuu and saw Yoshi's sacrifice. He charged Tabuu and swung his sword. Tabuu simply moved to the side. He created a sword and got ready to fight. Tabuu blocked a swing and quickly made another attempt to hit Link. Link rolled out of the way.

Tabuu got ready to swing again, but he was suddenly hit by a charge shot. Samus fired a missile. Tabuu timed it carefully and knocked it away. He said, "Pikachus, rip her apart." Four Pikachus that had climbed up the wall ran at Samus. Samus dropped a bomb and rolled out of the way. Three were hit by the blast and got stunned. Samus grabbed the fourth and smashed it into the ground. She aimed her arm cannon straight down at the clone, but she couldn't fire.

She tried to get herself to fire, but she couldn't do it. Pikachu's face reminded her of when she rescued him from the machine. Samus tried again, but was suddenly knocked over by something striking her in the back. She looked up and saw a Pikachu launch over and smash into her. As soon as she landed, the next one did it. She got up after the last one and fired a missile. All four of them dodged it. Samus grabbed one Pikachu and threw it off the edge. She grabbed a second one and did the same. When she tried with a third, a Pikachu flying across the plateau hit her again. Samus fell off the plateau and was attacked by all the clones still below. Soon, they separated and left Samus's trophy down at the bottom.

Up on the Plateau, the smashers tried their best to keep clones off of the plateau. Fox and Mario had gone to assist Link with defeating Tabuu. Tabuu did fight Fox and Mario, but his main focus was Link. Tabuu backhanded Link as he tried to stab Tabuu. Tabuu was going to finish Link, when Fox dashed in between them and snatched Link. He put Link further away from Tabuu. "If we lose you, it gives him less of a reason to stay."

"But I have to fight. LOOK OUT!" Link kicked Fox to the side and held up his shield. Link was launched back toward the edge of the plateau, but he was mostly fine.

"Let me handle this," Sonic said. Sonic ran toward Tabuu as he threw Mario toward the edge of the plateau. Mario was able to stay on. Snake and Wolf followed Sonic. Tabuu created chains and used them to pick up the three others. He held them up in the air.

He smiled and said, "Goodbye," He crushed the three of them until they turned into trophies. Tabuu turned toward the incoming swarm of clones. As he threw them, Fox ran up the chains and touched Sonic's and Snake's base. He tried to reach Wolf's, but it was too far away.

The three of them landed. "Hurry," Snake said. "We need to get back." They ran over and surprised a few of the clones. They took out six before a clone realized what was happening. They looked up and saw several clones get launched off.

When they realized that they couldn't keep them away much longer, they began climbing. Sonic looked up and saw Ness get ready to use his abilities. "Don't do it. My fur is gold."

Ness looked and stopped. "I nearly did it."

"Good thing you didn't." Sonic ran over and kicked Tabuu in the face. Tabuu made more chains, but they broke after being his by one of Snake's rockets.

Tabuu formed a gun and started firing it at Snake. Snake continued to dodge them. Tabuu reloaded and began firing again. After a few shots, something grabbed the gun and yanked out of Tabuu's hands. Tabuu looked down to see Olimar holding the gun. "Looking for something," he said. Tabuu attempted to get the gun back, but Olimar kept him away using the gun. When Olimar ran out of bullets, he threw the gun at a clone climbing over the side.

Tabuu rushed over and picked Olimar up. Olimar was able to quickly to quickly grab a red pikmin. As Tabuu held him up, Olimar began slapping him with the red pikmin. Tabuu threw him onto the ground and landed hard on Olimar's back. Tabuu stepped off and kicked the trophy over the edge. Tabuu next destroyed the remaining pikmin.

Tabuu readied another energy ball and fired it again at Link. Link was able to roll out of the way, but an unprepared Red was knocked off the platform. Link pulled out a bomb and threw it at Tabuu. Tabuu moved to the side and fired a quick blast. Link held his shield up and blocked the blast. R.O.B. jumped in and fired his laser at Tabuu. Tabuu absorbed the blast and fired it back. Link and R.O.B. both dived out of the way. Link threw his boomerang before rolling out of the way of another blast.

Link tried to get behind Tabuu, but Tabuu noticed Link and fired a larger blast. The blast exploded and caused Link to crash onto the ground. Tabuu prepared another, but was quickly interrupted by a mallet to the face. The first was quickly followed by a second. Popo and Nana landed in front of Link. Tabuu's anger burst as he looked at the Ice Climbers. "I thought you would have learned to just give in after everything I did. Then you defy me and now fight against me. If you want to face death, I would love to help."

Tabuu charged forward and knocked Popo over. Nana hit Tabuu on the head with her mallet. Tabuu simply turned to her and grabbed her by her parka. "You do not understand pain. I can do so much more that what you have experienced." Tabuu was suddenly aware that his hand was encased in a block of ice. He turned and looked down at Popo. Tabuu threw Nana straight up into the air.

Popo backed up as Tabuu approached him. He tried to hit Tabuu with the mallet, but Tabuu stopped it with a finger. Popo looked up and tried to kick Tabuu. Tabuu didn't flinch at all. He held up his own foot and kicked Popo across the plateau. Popo slowly got up and hit a chunk of ice across the floor toward Tabuu. Tabuu simply stepped on it and walked toward Popo.

Link looked up and saw where Nana was falling. Nana started screaming as she approached the ground. Link dived and caught Nana just before she slammed into the ground. Link set the stunned Ice Climber down and turned toward Tabuu. R.O.B. tried to slow Tabuu, but Tabuu picked R.O.B. up and threw him aside. Link got an arrow ready and fired.

Tabuu turned quickly and caught the arrow in midair. "You should have ran away a long time ago." Tabuu formed the sword again and began to swing it at Link.

Link jumped over one swing and soon engaged Tabuu again. "You do know which part of the Triforce I have, right?"

"Having courage does not mean being a fool." Tabuu brought the sword down on Link's shield. Link knocked it to the side and made a quick jab.

They locked swords together. "Well, I don't have the Triforce of wisdom, but I do know standing up to you is the right thing to do." Link knocked Tabuu's sword away and did a quick spin attack. Tabuu staggered a little. Link ran forward, but Tabuu used a few quick blasts to knock Link away.

Tabuu formed one more energy ball and flung it at Link. Nana ran up, shouted, "NO!" and dived in front of the blast. Popo watched as Nana's trophy was shot off. Popo was suddenly hit and launched off the plateau. After he hit the ground, he became a trophy. Tabuu looked where Link had fallen and saw that he was gone. He looked for Link, but he was unsuccessful in finding him. He started thinking it would be easier if he permanently got rid of some of them. He suddenly realized that he had put down his gun, but didn't remember where he had put it.

Tabuu started looking around for the subspace gun. He saw it close to the center of the battle. He flew over everyone and dived toward the gun. He was about to reach it when Marth dived out and grabbed the gun. Tabuu turned quickly and saw Marth aim and fire the gun. The crystal embedded itself into Tabuu's head. He fell forward and crashed onto the ground.

Everyone turned and looked at Tabuu. Even the subspace clones stopped fighting. The only fighting that was still going on was the Halberd off in the distance. Marth held the gun high in the air and shouted, "VICTORY IS OURS! THE SUBSPACE ARMY MUST LEAVE NOW! YOUR LEADER HAS BEEN DEFEATED!" The smashers started cheering. A few of them hugged Marth. Marth looked around until he found Lucas. "You were right. We could stop Tabuu, and we did."

Lucas was about to say thank you, when Marth suddenly disappeared. They started looking around until Lucario said, "Up there."

They looked up and saw Tabuu holding Marth by the neck. "You celebrated a little too early. The crystals can only hurt me, never kill. Now, if you don't mind." He grabbed the gun and ripped it out of Marth's hands. "I would like this back."

Marth gasped as Tabuu's grip became tighter and tighter. He stabbed Tabuu in the chest. Tabuu didn't even flinch as Marth shoved the sword deeper into Tabuu's chest Tabuu just continued to squeeze tighter until Marth was a trophy.

Tabuu was suddenly hit by a large blast from behind. He turned around and saw the Halberd approaching. The approaching subspace clones had all been annihilated. Another blast hit Tabuu straight in the chest. Tabuu created a huge laser and powered it extremely high. When the laser looked like it couldn't take much more, Tabuu fired it.

The laser blast went straight through the front of the ship. The ship began having small explosions. When the bridge and deck exploded, the trophies of Meta Knight and Mr. Game & Watch were shot out of the ship. Soon, the entire ship exploded.

When the ship exploded, it wasn't simply big enough to destroy the ship. The blast was powerful enough that the plateau was destroyed by the blast. Every column was blasted into millions of pieces. Every subspace clone was destroyed. The smashers were sent flying.

Eventually, Link got up and looked at the other smashers. He counted them off. Ness and Lucas had managed to survive. Mario and Fox had made it through the fight. Lucario, Snake, and Sonic had also made. The final survivor had been R.O.B.

Snake was rubbing his neck when his eyes suddenly grew big. He started running as he shouted, "Sonic, look out." Snake shoved Sonic aside. Snake was suddenly launched back. When he landed, everyone could see the crystal embedded in his chest. Snake was too exhausted to try and get it out. He became bright, and soon he was gone.

They all stared at where Snake used to be. They all were aware of a ding. They looked up to see Tabuu floating in the air. He didn't seem hurt be the explosion at all. Tabuu aimed the gun at Sonic again and fired. Sonic dodged to the side and ran up to Tabuu. Sonic jumped and was going to kick Tabuu, but Tabuu created the sword and stabbed Sonic through the chest. He flung Sonic to the side, and aimed the gun at Sonic again, but stopped when he realized Sonic was a trophy.

Mario jumped up, but Tabuu simply smashed him into the ground. Ness and Lucas both went forward and fired many bursts of PK powers. Tabuu stuck both his hands out towards both of them and shot them both. Both of their trophies soon replaced them.

Tabuu looked at the final four. "It was a great and noble battle, but you have failed. This world is mine, and your worlds will soon be mine as well."

R.O.B. stepped forward and said, "When you destroyed the Isle of the Ancients, it caused the end to my people." Sparks started shooting out of his eyes. "I wasn't satisfied when you were defeated the first time. Now, I get the chance to make you pay, and I promise you, YOU WILL PAY!" R.O.B. activated his diffusion beam and began fighting Tabuu.

Lucario turned to Link, "You need to get out of here. R.O.B. won't be able to stop him alone." Lucario tried shoving Link to get him to start going, but a sound behind them made them look at the battle between R.O.B. and Tabuu.

Tabuu had made a large swipe and knocked R.O.B.'s head off. It was still firing the diffusion beam a few seconds after it fell. When the body hit the ground, R.O.B.'s head joined the body as R.O.B. became a trophy. Lucario and Fox turned to fight Tabuu. Tabuu extended his arms out about twenty feat and threw the two to the side. He didn't even bother to finish them off the rest of the way and turn them into trophies. Tabuu snapped his fingers and created chains that encased the two smashers. When he was satisfied with his work, he turned to Link.

Link pulled out his sword and shield. "Poor boy," Tabuu said. "You did so much and fought so hard to deny the inevitable. Even after the last flame of hope has gone out, you blow in the ashes and hope to bring it back to life."

Tabuu was suddenly hit by a large green shell. He dropped the subspace gun and turned to see that the shell was Bowser. He blasted Bowser and turned him into a trophy. He turned back to Link, but what he saw caused him to freeze. Ganondorf stared at Tabuu. Link struggled as Ganondorf tried to keep his grip. He held the subspace gun in his hand and pointed it right at Link's head. Ganondorf tilted his head to the side and said, "You forgot that while going through ashes, you might find embers."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The Deal

Link continued to try and escape his attempt to escape. Ganondorf whispered into his ear, "Trust me." Link stopped, but still felt uncomfortable. "You haven't won yet," Tabuu said."

Tabuu continued moving towards them. "All you have done is given me yourself and Bowser. Now, I can wipe you all out at once."

Ganondorf backed up some more. "I would stop if I was you."

Tabuu slowed down, but kept moving forward. "Why is that?"

"I pull this trigger and Link is dead." When Link heard this, he started shaking violently to get Ganondorf to let go.

"You wouldn't do that."

Ganondorf got control of Link and looked back at Tabuu. "Link is my rival in my universe. I would love to kill him. I also helped you, so there has to be a bit of a killer in me."

"You kill him, and you lose your bargaining chip."

"If I can't kill him, then he isn't that effective of a bargaining chip."

"All you're doing is helping me finish my goals."

"No, what I'm doing is I'm going to keep you from opening the vault." Tabuu finally stopped where he w as. "You already knew what would happen if I shoot him. You lose the final key and will never be able to open the vault."

"It doesn't matter if I have the subspace in the vault. I have the hands, and since I have retrieved Mr. Game & Watch, I can rebuild my army."

"I'm not sure you have him anymore." Ridley suddenly passed by carrying Meta Knight, Mr. Game & Watch, Wolf Nana, and Popo. Tabuu started creating an energy ball until Ganondorf said, "I'll shoot him."

Tabuu stopped before he threw it. "It doesn't matter. They are trophies, and Ridley and Porkey don't have enough smash energy to free them."

"True, but I gave them these." He cautiously let go of Link and hoped he wouldn't try to run away again. When Link made no movement to go, Ganondorf reached into a pocket and pulled out a Dedede brooch. "Hid these in several places before we left. Bowser has one as well." Tabuu looked at Bowser and watched as he carried Sonic and Mario away. Bowser looked over his shoulder and waved goodbye. Tabuu made another attempt to throw the energy ball, but Ganondorf said, "I guess this is goodbye Link."

Link responded, "I guess it's been sort of nice knowing you. Please don't take over Hyrule when I'm gone."

Tabuu turned toward them and glared at the smashers. Eventually, he slowly shrunk the ball until it disappeared. "It was something like that that caused me to focus so much on killing King Dedede."

"Threatening me isn't going to help you right now." By now, Link completely trusted Ganondorf and was even resting his head on the gun barrel. "Here is how it's going to work. If I kill Link, the next thing I'm going to do is break this gun. I'll stop you from succeeding in as many goals as I can if you try something."

"There is something else though," Tabuu said. "You want something."

"Something makes it sound like I have a simple request. There are multiple things, no, multiple demands that I am going to make. The first is I will destroy this gun anyway."

"You better be offering me something great if you will sabotage possible success in one of my goals. Tell me now, or I will refuse anyway."

"The first thing you get is a misted version of Link." This worried Link slightly, but it was what he thought Ganondorf would offer. "The second thing involves the vault. I assume your army has taken a fairly large drop in numbers. I offer you four days where we will not disturb you. You can do what you want to this world after the first day. The second part is you let us gather our stuff and go. We have the first day to leave. If we aren't out, we're yours."

"I thought there would be more to it."

"There is. When I say everyone, I mean every smasher, every assist trophy, every pokemon, every villain, and every hand."

"I will not let the hands go free."

"Fine. Bye-bye Link."

"Wait. I'll do it.

"Do it now."

Tabuu hesitated at first. Link didn't give Tabuu much time. "Just pull the trigger and kill me." Tabuu glared at Link. He pulled off Crazy Hand first, and then Master Hand. He threw them both to the ground in front of Ganondorf's feet.

Ganondorf momentarily broke eye contact and looked at the Hands. He quickly looked back up. "The third part is you cannot send your armies to attack in the four day period. You must remain peaceful as well. The fourth is that you let you collect all our friends and go."

"Odd you refer to them as friends now. I'll get some of my men started on it."

"The fifth is that you let Lucario check the trophies for any sign of subspace before they are taken away." Tabuu continued to glare at Ganondorf. He raised his hand, and the chains that had once been wrapped around Lucario were gone.

Link, Ganondorf, and Lucario watched as Ridley and the Hands carried the trophies of the smashers away. Fox had also been released from the chains and joined the others in watching. Eventually, Ridley returned them after they were the only smashers left to go. "One last thing. I know what you did to Popo and Nana. I want you to tell me how to make them a team again."

Tabuu smiled. "I can't do that. The only reason they were a duo is that every time they come into this world, they come in at the exact same time. I will not be able to help you with this demand."

Ganondorf stared at Tabuu. Eventually, he raised the gun and smashed it onto his knee. The gun shattered. Ganondorf pulled out his sword and cut it up even more. Ridley moved Ganondorf aside. He looked at the pieces and shot a fireball at it. By then, there wasn't anything left.

Link walked forward and stared at Tabuu. "You finally have me, but I don't think the moment was as sweet as you thought it would be." Tabuu backhanded Link. Link stumbled a little. Tabuu formed another energy ball, and he brought it down on Link. Link's trophy stood there as a mist entered him. It quickly left and returned to Tabuu. Ganondorf touched Link's base and brought him back to life.

Tabuu waved his hand. An enormous hourglass was created behind him. "When Ridley grabs the four of you, the time begins."

The four final smashers got together. Ridley quickly grabbed them and flew off. Link looked behind him and could barely see the hourglass flip.

They flew over to where the other smashers were. They had gathered on a cliff barely outside the subspace realm. When they landed, Link expected Ganondorf to be congratulated for saving everyone. He thought the same for the other villains. Instead, the others either ignored or glared at them. People like Ness, Nana, and Popo wouldn't even accept being close to them.

Master Hand floated over to them. He turned to Ganondorf. "I thought you really would have killed Link."

Link laughed. "I thought he was going to kill me anyway."

"Tabuu has all the keys to the vault," Falco said. "What do we do now."

"We go get what we need from Smash Mansion," Ganondorf said. "Then we return to our own worlds and gather armies for the last battle."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The First Day

It took a while, but eventually everyone got to Smash Mansion. Master Hand gave all the Pokeballs to Red to look after. Red had to pack all of them into multiple bags. Link got all of his stuff back from Master Hand. He looked at the jars he had. Except for the one with the fairy, they were all empty. Link opened the one with the fairy and let her go. She had been in the jar too long. The fairy flew out and wagged her finger at Link. "Sorry, I thought I would have gone back by now." The fairy didn't stay. She quickly flew out the window.

Mario was in his room packing his stuff as well. "One-a mushroom, two-a mushroom, three-a mushroom, four-a mushroom, five-a mushroom."

"Six-a mushroom?" Luigi said.

"Nope, just-a five."

Pikachu didn't have anything to pack, but he wanted to be with Samus. Samus was trying to get all her stuff together. It was going to be more difficult since she left her ship in the subspace realm. Pikachu walked over to her carrying some of her stuff. Samus smiled and said, "Thank you."

Ridley helped Wolf and Fox with their land masters. Falco had his carried by Porkey. Ridley nearly dropped them when there was a sudden roar. Bowser was commanding goombas and koopas. They carried things like his vehicles and other things he thought were necessary to staying at smash mansion. He turned to one of his koopas and shouted, "Don't you dare drop that painting."

Red walked over carrying one of the bags full of pokeballs. "Do you think you could have some of them help me?" he said.

"No. Do it yourself. You should have to carry what you brought."

"But you are making others carry your stuff, and this doesn't belong to me."

Bowser turned back to the koopas and goombas. Olimar walked over with about a hundred pikmin. "I'll help. Besides, you don't want help from his kind."

Bowser stopped his work and turned toward Olimar. "What do you mean by my kind."

"You know, the ones that betrayed everyone and helped Tabuu."

"I ought to crush you for that."

"Even when you help the good guys, you still act like a bad guy."

Ridley slammed into the ground and nearly crushed the landmasters. "You must feel the same way about me."

"Well you did betray us," Ness said. "You helped Tabuu kill King Dedede and even Wario."

"Hey," Ganondorf walked in and joined them. "We have to work together. Tabuu already has a distinct advantage with having time to open the vault. If we fight among ourselves, Tabuu will get an even greater advantage if we fight among ourselves."

"You just don't want to acknowledge the mistakes you made," Pit said.

"Ganondorf saved us all," Link said. "Just like the rest of the villains. Even though they were the ones that helped Tabuu, they saved everyone."

"I thought you were Ganondorf's rival," Pit said.

"Right. I am, not you."

"Link, Ganondorf," They turned to see Master Hand was now watching. "I want you two to come with me and help with convincing the assist trophies to help." Link and Ganondorf went with Master Hand, happy to leave the fighting. As they left, they could hear Olimar and Bowser begin arguing again.

Master Hand, Ganondorf, and Link entered the basement of the smash mansion. They looked around and saw the assist trophies were displayed. Ganondorf walked over to one of the trophies. It was Shadow. As he touched the base, he heard someone run down the stairs, screaming, "WAIT!"

Sonic came down the stairs and entered the room. Ganondorf turned and said, "What?"

Shortly after, Ganondorf was punched in the face by Shadow. Sonic said, "Phew, I got to see it." Shadow looked around at the four. Ganondorf slowly got up as he continued to rub his cheek. "That was uncalled for," he said.

Shadow looked around the room. "This isn't a battle. Why have you awakened me?"

"We have a bit of a problem," Master Hand said. "A being known as Tabuu has come for revenge against us. He is building an army as we speak."

"Why don't we stop him now?"

"We are most likely outgunned," Link said. "We also promised him peace for four days."

"What makes you think I will help?" Shadow said. "You have kept me here against my will."

The smashers turned to Master Hand. "You said that the assist trophies stayed here willingly," Sonic said.

"They did for the first few years," Master Hand said. "During the third year, we began to have problems. While the creatures and the generally good guys were willing to stay, we had problems with villains and the strong willed ones like Shadow."

"Guys," Link said. "Shadow left."

They turned and saw that Shadow had left the room. "When we leave here," Sonic said. "I'll try to get him to come back and help."

Link went over to another one of the assist trophies. He looked at the small fighter Little Mac. Link touched the base and quickly moved back. Little Mac charged out and started swinging until he saw Master Hand was there as well. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, but it would help if you woke the others up for us." Little Mac nodded and quickly touched the base of every assist trophy in the room. When people like Waluigi and Andross tried to run, Master Hand quickly blocked the exit. "We need to talk."

"Get out of my way," Waluigi said as he smacked Master Hand with a racket. "You can't keep me here like this."

"I'll let all of those go that want to go, but if you want to enjoy leaving for more than a few weeks, you will listen to what I have to say."

The villains and others backed away. "Are you threatening us?" Andross asked.

"I don't threaten. I just need time to explain." Once they had given him enough room, Master Hand turned to Link, Sonic, and Ganondorf and said, "Guard the doors. Make sure no one leaves." The three blocked the entrance.

Master Hand turned toward the assist trophies and began telling them the story of Tabuu. When he was done telling everything that had happened recently, as well as five years ago, Master Hand said, "His army grows quickly. To stop him, we'll need all the help we can get. Will you help?"

Some of them seemed to be thinking it over. Jeff, however, quickly walked over and said, "I may not be able to physically help, but I will give you my knowledge. I'll help as much as I possibly can."

Little Mac was next. "I will fight as well."

Knuckle Joe said, "So will I."

Issac walked oveer, "I will fight."

The creatures all joined Master Hand. Lyn joined him and said, "I will help with my sword."

Eventually, only the villains hadn't offered to help. They got together and began talking. Andross looked up. "If you swear that we may leave as soon as this is over, we will help."

Issac smiled. "It looks like we're all helping."

"Not all of us," Jeff said. "Shadow doesn't appear to be here."

"I'll deal with him," Sonic said. "Meanwhile, we need to get going soon. The estimates we came up with said we only have a few hours left."

* * *

R.O.B. stood in his room. He looked around. They would have to go in an hour, but he had been ready to go since they arrived. Samus walked past his room. "Hey, we're meeting out front. Why haven't you gone out?"

"I don't want to. I don't know why I stayed here. I have been alone since the other R.O.B.s had been destroyed."

"Did Master Hand not get them yet?"

R.O.B. looked up at her. "Get what?"

Samus thought about whether Master Hand would mind or not. Eventually, she said, "Come with me." She ran down the halls into the basement. R.O.B. trailed closely behind her. They were in the trophy archives. Most of the trophies were replicas of the people they were supposed to represent. Samus eventually led R.O.B. to the subspace section. "You never went in here because you prefer not to remember what happened, right?"

"Yes."

"Master Hand was going to give you something as a gift when we were all done. He hid it back here since he knew you wouldn't ever venture this far down." Samus got to curtains at the end of the subspace section. She opened them and showed R.O.B. what was on the other side.

All of the R.O.B. robots that had been captured during the Subspace Emissary were all there. There were about 38 robots total. R.O.B. went up to one and looked at it. "Can they be brought back to life?"

"See for yourself."

R.O.B. looked down at the base. Slowly, he reached out and touched it. There was a bright light and soon, a R.O.B. robot was standing where the trophy used to be. If R.O.B. could cry he would have. R.O.B. slowly turned to Samus. He looked at her and said, "Thank you for doing this."

* * *

The smashers, villains, and everyone else gathered just outside of the Smasher's world. Crazy Hand arrived carrying the last batch of pikmin and pokeballs. Master Hand carried a bag full of weapons.

Master Hand looked at all the smashers. "We need to do something now."

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Since we have left this world, we will have to remove all of your abilities to become trophies when defeated. By doing so, we will return you to your former strengths. Sonic will once again be the fastest thing alive. Ganondorf will regain his true power. The down side is you will all be vulnerable to true death."

"If we return to our true strength," Pit said. "Then the clones will actually be at a disadvantage."

Master Hand and Crazy Hand opened wide. Soon, blue small blue balls of light floated out of them all. They lights formed into a ball in between the hands. Once all the lights had floated into the ball, the hands slammed together onto the ball.

"Master Bowser," Everyone turned to see a goomba carrying an apple. "I got this for you."

"Hurry," Bowser said.

"I'm coming."

"Come on faster."

"I'm going as fast as I can."

Bowser was about to say something else, but a barrier suddenly formed. The goomba looked scares. It ran into the barrier multiple times trying to break through. It stopped when it was suddenly stepped on. The smashers backed up as they looked at Tabuu. He picked up the apple and said, "Only three days to go."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The Second Day

Master Hand opened up multiple portals. "These will return you to the worlds you came as well as the timezone that you existed in. We will open them back up near the end of the fourth day. You will have to bring as many people as you can to help." Crazy Hands floated over each portal and put a sign above it saying who goes where. The smashers prepared themselves before stepping through. Link, Toon Link, Fox, Mario, and Luigi were the last ones to go through. R.O.B. was staying with the robots that had been freed.

Luigi patted Mario on the back and said, "Come on bro. Let's-a go." Mario nodded as they stepped through. Fox went through his next. Link smiled at Toon Link and nodded before he entered his own portal. Toon Link looked up at the last portal. He prepared himself, and then stepped through.

As soon as he entered the portal, he was swept off his feet. He flew through the portal head first until he came out the other end. Toon Link looked around and realized he ended up twenty feet above the ocean near Tetra's ship. Toon Link screamed before he fell into the water below. Toon Link came out of the water, gasping for air. The ship glided by Toon Link. He waved his hands and was glad when it stopped close by. One of Tetra's men reached out and pulled Toon Link onto the ship. Tetra walked over and said, "So how was the vacation."

Toon Link gasped for air as he said, "No time. Something important."

Tetra's eyes grew wide as she said, "Someone's talkative today. Why do you seem like you're in a hurry?" Toon Link started explaining to Tetra and the others everything that had happened. He told her about Tabuu and how he had nearly won once and was close to doing it again. He then told Tetra how he needed help from as many people as he could get it from. "I can find us some more men. Welcome back to being part of the crew."

* * *

Sonic ran from city to city. He had quickly gotten Tails to agree to helping. Amy and Knuckles were also fairly easy. Shadow was Sonic's next target. He looked all over the planet, but the closest he came was some guy saying he saw Shadow just before Sonic arrived.

Sonic had started searching in a new city when he heard, "Sonic, I need to tell you something."

Sonic looked up to see Tails in the Tornado. "Tails, what are you doing here?" Sonic said. "I thought you would be building stuff to help fight Tabuu."

"I've been building a communicator to talk to the wisps."

"The alien guys that we met while investigating Dr. Eggman's amusement park, right?"

"Yeah. Well, I figured that I'm not the kind of person that builds robots. I did, however, think of someone that seems to have an obsession with robots."

"Wait, your suggesting I team up with Dr. Eggman, huh."

"You said you needed all the help you could get."

"Huh. It might be interesting working with him. Could be fun. Ok, I'll go talk to him. Meanwhile, do you think you can help me track down Shadow? I can't find him. The only people I have gotten to help me are you, Knuckles, and Amy."

"Sure thing Sonic." Tail took off as he started looking for someone else that would help with finding Shadow. Sonic took off toward where Dr. Eggman most likely was.

Sonic ran over and stopped as he entered Eggman's lair. He searched around quietly until he found him. Sonic could hear Dr. Eggman speaking to himself saying, "Once I capture Amy, I will use her as bait. When Sonic comes to get her I will turn him into a mouse. Then I will finally be able to defeat Sonic. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."

"Huh," Sonic said aloud. Dr Eggman quickly turned around to look at Sonic. "I never thought you would be the kind of person that would talk to himself. Ah who am I kidding. I always thought you talked to herself."

"Sonic! I have you Now!" Dr. Eggman quickly brought up a control panel and pressed a big red button. Sonic got ready for what the button would do, but nothing happened. Dr. Eggman pressed the button again. "Hmm. Maybe I haven't given this button anything to do yet."

"Listen, Eggman, do you want to talk."

"What is it Sonic? I'm busy."

"Yeah. Coming up with plans that never work like kidnapping Amy and turning me into a mouse sounds like exhausting work. You're getting desperate, huh."

"You heard my plan?"

"And the evil laugh. I have something you might enjoy. What is that you want more than anything else?"

"WORLD DOMINATION!"

"Besides that."

"To enslave everybody."

"Besides that."

"Cookies?"

"Has to do with me."

"I want to destroy you."

"There we go. I have something that could help with that."

"You are committing suicide and you're giving me the honor of doing it."

"Let me finish." Sonic explained the situation to Dr. Eggman. He made sure to emphasize how they needed to destroy the clones, including the Sonic clones. "You can get the chance to destroy me as much as you want. All I need is your robot army. What do you say?" Sonic extended his hand.

Dr. Eggman looked at Sonic's hand for a little. Then he smiled and shook. "There is no way I can pass this up if it's true. I'm in."

* * *

Ganondorf looked at the Gerudo warriors. Unlike Link and Zelda, Master Hand seemed to think it would be best if he tried recruiting people from the Ocarnia of Time timeline. "Gerudo, I know I failed you, but I once more ask you to follow me. A power greater than any other this world has seen has threatened to rule over this land. I have made allies of people who will be willing to help in the coming battle. I ask you to come to my aid and help me defeat this foe. We cannot allow them to rule the Gerudo. Will you follow me."

Ganondorf was surprised when he realized the Gerudo would follow him. "While there may be many of us and we are strong, we will need everyone we can get. Send people out and see what help can be recruited."

* * *

"They're not going to help me," Ridley said. They had arrived at one of the Galactic Federation's headquarters. They will in the halls, which were a little too small for Ridley to be comfortable. Ridley was in a special suit that restricted his movements to make him look like he had been captured.

"Yes, they will help us," Samus responded.

"No, they will help you, but they won't help me. Any form of dealing with criminals will be rejected."

"I haven't killed you, so even they will trust scum like you."

"Who are you calling scum?" Ridley said as he got in front of her. "A worm like yourself shouldn't speak that way to someone like me."

"Someone like you." Samus got a bomb ready. "SOMEONE LIKE YOU! The scum that slaughters people to make a living. The kind of creature that destroys the lives of innocent people for no reason."

Ridley started tugging on the restraining suit, but they heard, "Samus, it's good to see you are back." One of the generals walked toward them. He smiled, but quickly turned to Ridley. "Why have you brought this beast with you?"

Ridley started growling, but Samus stopped it by raising her hand. "General, I need to meet with your superiors and anyone else of major importance." The general nodded and started talking on his communicator. It took a while, but they soon got together.

Samus faced all of the people. "I need your help. There is a being that is threatening this universe and many others if we cannot stop him. I would like everyone to help with the battle that is about to come."

"What does this have to do with Ridley?" One general said.

"He can tell you himself." Samus stepped aside. Ridley quickly took off the suit. The men got their guns ready, but Samus said, "The suit has been unlocked since he got onboard. If he wanted to cause trouble he would have."

Ridley looked at all of them. "I have already decided that I will help. My men, however, will not be willing to help even if you promise not to arrest them immediately after the battle is over. I have come here to negotiate."

"We don't negotiate with pirates and murderers," a general in the back corner said.

"If you do not gain our support, then you risk losing a battle you cannot afford to lose. I will make contact with the rest of my men. From there, I will contact you, and we can begin negotiations." The generals talked it over and eventually agreed. Ridley went over to Samus. "Maybe, if this goes well, we'll stop shooting at each other."

Samus took out her arm cannon and quickly shot at Ridley. Ridley groaned in pain. Samus said, "I guess not." Ridley looked down at her. "Don't think we will be friends by the end of this. When this is over, I will still hate you for what you did to my parents."

* * *

Link checked the Gorons off his list. It was hard to convince them to help, but eventually Link was successful. Link had quickly gotten the Zoras to help. He had also convinced Rusl to try and get the resistance members to help. Zelda had Hyrule's army ready and was trying to get more people to help if possible.

Link's next target was King Bulblin. He was hoping that by King Bulblin's final statement about how he followed the strongest side meant he would help Link again. Although, it could mean we would actually fight for Tabuu. Link was hoping King Bulblin wouldn't even consider helping someone like Tabuu.

Link eventually found a bulblin camp. The greeting was better than expected. He had bulblins pointing arrows at his head and holding clubs ready to fight. Link held up his hands. "I've come to talk to King Bulblin." The bulblins looked at each other. One nodded and another ran off. Link looked around at the bulblins gathered around him. "So, how have you guys been doing?" He didn't get a response.

King Bulblin rode out and met Link. "I never thought I would see you again. Why have you come here?"

"I need your help. A being has come that is preparing to invade Hyule. He is stronger than anything any other world has faced. I beat him once before, but I need your help to do it again."

King Bulblin stared at Link. "I told you I serve the strongest side. Why should I help you when he is obviously the stronger one?"

"Because if Tabuu succeeds, he won't be having people that might challenge him. He'll wipe you out even if you decide to help him."

"Then why would I want to help if this Tabuu is likely to destroy us anyways."

"We need as many people as we can get. Your bulblin army outnumbers even Hyrule's army. Your men could make a major difference in the battle to come."

King Bulbin looked at his men. "I will give you my support, but you can only take those that are willing to go." King Bulblin turned away from Link and looked at his friend. "All those that would like to help in this battle, follow me and Link. The rest will need to watch the camp." The bulblins were hesitant to go at first. Eventually, a bulblin stepped forward. That bulblin was followed by another. The number grew to about 150, a bit less than half the camp. King Bulblin looked at Link. "I'll go to the other camps and see who else will help." Link thanked King Bulblin and headed toward the portal. He brought everyone he had gathered over, with the exception of the resistance. When he arrived at the other end, he saw a hare, a toad, and a man that seemed to have an obsession with red robots. Olimar was talking to another that also had a helmet and spacesuit.

Link went to Master Hand. "Good job, but you need to hurry. We have two days left."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The Third Day

Ridley had met up with his men and discussed what they would get for their cooperation. They knew what they were going to request was a bit much, but they knew they could negotiate with the Federation so they could make a profit. Ridley contacted the Federation. The council of generals and leaders had been assembled again. Samus was watching on the side. One General was standing in front of the communicator. "We are ready to begin negotiations," The general said said.

"Good," Ridley said. "Here are our requests. We want 200 billion dollars."

The council gasped. The general in front said, "That is outrageous."

"There's more to it. We want half of it in money, and half of it in goods. The second part is you cannot interfere with any of our activities. In return, besides getting our cooperation, we will give you one year of peace."

The council members began discussing Ridley's terms. Eventually, someone told the general what they had decided. The general began by saying, "We find the amount requested to be too large. What reason do you have for needing such a large sum of money?"

"The upcoming battle will cost the lives of a lot of people. If I am going to put my men at risk, I want the rewards to be highly profitable."

"We are only willing to pay 50 billion. We also find there to be another problem. You are saying a year of peace, but some of the things you pirates are known for aren't peaceful. We would like to change the second part so that your illegal activities are restricted to ones that won't directly or indirectly hurt another living creature."

"If you cut the amount of money you pay and take out a major part of our work, we will suffer. I will accept the second change only if the price is raised back to 150 billion."

The generals talked again. The general got their decision and said, "We will pay the 150 billion, but we want to add two more things. If someone in your organization commits a violent crime, he is to be executed by the galactic alliance. The money and goods also will only be paid after the battle is over."

"You can only execute a pirate if he is caught during the crime or before he reaches the safety of a pirate center. The peace goes for you as well. Also, the price has to be paid before the battle."

"If we give you the money, you might take it and run."

"If you don't give us the money, you might refuse to keep that part of the deal."

The council talked again. They debated for about an hour, but they couldn't make a decision. They all turned to Samus and asked her to make the decision. Samus went up in front of the communicator, but she faced the council. "We give them the money before the battle, but the only one who can access it is Ridley." When there were some that voiced their disapproval, Samus said, "Ridley knows what our foe is capable of, he won't run." She turned to Ridley and said, "Do you accept?"

Ridley smiled. He turned to his men and said, "We are going to battle. Head to the following coordinates."

* * *

Link got permission to check the Hyrule archives from Zelda. He was hoping that somewhere in the books, he would find an alternate way to get into the twilight realm. The only information he was able to get was about the recent events.

He left the archives frustrated. He went to Telma's Bar where the other resistance members had gathered. "Link, we need to know more about this Tabuu," Ashei said. "What weaknesses does he have?"

"He has no weakness. The only way to really beat him is to simply overpower him."

"You seem gloomy," Rusl said. "You were much happier when you talked to me yesterday."

Link looked over at the group. "Sorry, I just have a bit of a problem."

"Well I'm sure there is some way we can help," Shad said.

Link's eyes grew wide. He looked right at Shad and said, "I don't think they can, but you might be able to help me somehow."

Shad looked shocked. "I'm assuming you seek information."

"Yes. I need to get into the twilight realm. All the information I have found says the connection between the two worlds is one I know has been destroyed. I need to know if there is another way."

"The twilight mirror is destroyed then." Shad sat down and thought over everything he had ever read. "One possible way is to use a wish from the triforce. Judging by the back of your hand," Shad looked at the back of Link's right hand. "You have one piece. Bottom right means this is the triforce of courage. Zelda has been rumored to have the triforce of wisdom. You just need to find the wielder of the triforce of power."

"I killed the wielder of the triforce of power. He doesn't exist here anymore. We won't be able to use the triforce to go to the twilight realm.

"Then we may want to see if we can get to the mirror. Where is the mirror of twilight?"

"It's in Gerudo dessert, I can take you there."

* * *

Sonic had been able to get support from almost everybody he talked to. He had even been able to collect the chaos emeralds. He still hadn't made any progress in getting Shadow to help.

Tails was working on a portal that let Sonic get into contact with Silver. Him and Blaze would be a great help to the team. Suddenly, Tails grabbed his ear and said, "You found him. Good, where are you? Sonic, he's in Siberia. Rogue make sure you don't let Shadow escape."

"Tails, if I'm not back when this is over, you need to get Blaze and Silver to help."

"But…" Sonic was gone before Tails had even finished the word. Tails went back to talking to Rogue. "Has he noticed you yet. Then make it look like you want to talk to him." Tails went back to work on the machine. He was connecting wires when it first started working.

When he put the machine together the rest of the way, Rogue said, "He saw the communicator, he's on the run."

"Stay with him. We might not get another chance to talk him into helping."

"I can't keep up with him. He's too fast."

"Just stay with him until Sonic arrives. Everything is depending on you staying close."

"Ok, I'll keep…Sonic just arrived."

"Get him going in the right direction. I have some others I need to meet with."

"Understood." Rogue flew down toward Sonic and said, "He's gone that way, if you hurry, you can still catch him." Sonic gave her a thumbs up and began the chase. Sonic could see the footprints Shadow had left, but he knew he had a lot of ground to cover. Sonic ran up a hill side and saw Shadow had covered about a mile. Sonic took a shortcut through some nearby woods and dashed across a frozen river.

Sonic got to the other side and looked down the road. He barely saw Shadow before he collided into Sonic. Sonic groaned and rubbed his head. "That hurt more than I thought it would." Sonic looked at Shadow and saw him get unsteadily onto his feet. Sonic started getting back up as Shadow took off. Sonic hurried and was soon after Shadow.

Shadow looked behind him and could tell that he hadn't lost track of Sonic. He sped up as fast as he could. Sonic sped up to stay close to Shadow. Shadow ran toward the edge of the cliff and made a sharp turn before going over. Sonic was nearly unprepared for the cliff. He stopped in time and looked down at the ocean below. "I am never swimming in freezing water." Sonic could see Shadow running along the edge and took off after him.

Shadow led Sonic straight towards a large frozen lake. He ran straight across and could hear the ice breaking. Sonic came from behind and saw the ice had been made unstable. Going around the lake would take to long. He started dashing across. He jumped from piece to piece. Ahead, Shadow slipped on the ice. He started to slide off. He quickly got back up and jumped off just before he slid off. He had a hard time getting traction, so he ran as fast as he could toward the closest edge there was. Sonic tried to switch directions, but he slipped as well. He slid all the way to the end of the lake. When he got back up, Shadow had just barely reached the edge.

Sonic chased Shadow for thousands of miles and over ten minutes. No matter what Shadow tried, Sonic was able to stay close. Shadow decided to try a new tactic. He headed west. Sonic started noticing that Shadow wasn't trying as many tricks when he saw where they were headed. Up ahead, Sonic saw many different buildings. He had no idea where he was until he saw the Eiffel Tower.

Sonic looked around for Shadow, but soon realized he had lost track of Shadow. He ran around the city, but it was hard to find one person in such a large city. He ran up the tallest building and looked down. He saw Shadow, but when he went where Shadow had been, he had already moved on. "Sonic!" Sonic looked up to see Tails in the Tornado. "I brought help.

Blaze and Silver ran up and greeted Sonic. Silver said, "Shadow is giving you trouble again, huh."

"Yeah, but it's nice to get to be out. So, how about we see who can find Shadow first."

"You're going to turn this into a race," Silver said. "You…"

"GO!" Sonic ran off before anybody else could say anything.

Blaze looked at Tails, "He really likes turning into a game."

"Yeah, he hasn't changed much. Even with how bad the situation is, though, it's nice to know he's staying upbeat." They all went in different directions and began searching.

Sonic learned that Amy, Rogue, Knuckles, Cream, and just about everybody else was in the city searching for Shadow. Shadow had also noticed all the different people in the city, and was having a hard time avoiding them. He turned a corner and looked around. Suddenly, someone jumped onto his back. Shadow shoved him off, looked behind him, and kicked him into the wall. Shadow noticed it was Espio. "Vector, I found Shadow, but I can't take him down," Espio said into a communicator.

"Stay with him," Vector said. "Tails is paying us well to help him."

Espio said, "Understood," and tried to tackle Shadow. Shadow rolled to the side and dashed off, followed quickly by Espio. They dashed down multiple streets as fast as they could. Shadow grabbed an apple and threw behind him at Espio. Espio moved to the side, but he had to slow down. Shadow moved into an alley and shoved a large dumpster to block the entrance. He moved to the side in case Espio jumped over and kept going. Shadow soon heard a thud and Espio groaning. Satisfied, Shadow started taking off before stopping again.

Down the road stood Amy. She didn't look intimidating, but based on her stance, it looked like she was going to fight. Shadow looked was about to jump back over the dumpster, but Espio had gotten back up.

Shadow looked for an exit. He suddenly took off and made it through a gap between Amy and the wall. Shadow turned the corner and quickly turned back around when he saw Knuckles. He looked up and saw Tails in the Tornado. Sonic got past Knuckles and went up to Shadow. "Come on, just talk with us."

"Master Hand kept me trapped there for years."

"He is promising freedom to people that want it after everything is over."

"It's just a lie to get me to go back."

"Wait, this Master Hand trapped Shadow there?" Tails asked from the roof he landed the Tornado on. By then, everyone else had arrived.

Sonic looked up at Tails and said, "At first, Master Hand kept him there because Shadow said he would help. However, when Shadow wanted to be done, along with others, Master Hand forced them to stay." Sonic turned to Shadow again. "He didn't let anyone else know about the problem, so I had no idea about the problem."

"I won't help him."

"I'll fight for you if Master Hand does go back on his word."

"I will too," Rogue said.

"I will," Tails said.

"We all will," Silver said. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

Sonic smiled at everyone before looking back at. "Tabuu is going to go after all the worlds. So if you won't fight for Master Hand, fight for yourself." Sonic turned and left.

Cream looked down the road. "What's he doing?"

"He knows that nothing else we can say will affect him," Blaze said. Others stayed and said a few more things before going again.

Tails was the last to go. He looked down at Shadow and said, "If you do decide to help, the portal back is near my workshop." Tails got into the Tornado and left.

* * *

Link, Rusl, Shad, Ashei, and Auru searched the floor of the mirror chamber. They dug through the sands, hoping to find one of the pieces of the mirror. Shad was rather awkward as he tried searching. The searched for hours and eventually, they decided they should stop and see what they had. Shad had only been able to get one piece. Rusl had seven things that were identified as mirror shards. Ashei had thirteen and Link had seventeen. It was Auru who was really successful with thirty five. Link said, "The plan isn't to rebuild the mirror, right?"

"No," Shad said. "If my theory is correct, we don't even need as many pieces as we gathered. The only reason we didn't stop earlier is because I wanted to find at least one piece."

Auru looked at Shad. "We kept digging for your pride?"

"I wanted to fell like I wasn't physically worthless." He examined the shards until he had selected twenty one pieces. "Before I starte, what do you want us to do if you get there."

"There's a portal by Eldin Bridge. Go into it to meet up with the others my friends gathered."

Shad nodded and grabbed one of the shards. He turned to Link, but stopped. "I need to know that you trust me and you'll trust my decision." Link nodded. Shad quickly stabbed Link in the chest with the shard. Rusl ran forward toward Link as he fell onto his knees. Link stopped him by holding up his hand. Link then fell unconscious as the shard sank into his skin.

Shad was over by the mirror stand. He was arranging the remaining twenty pieces into a circle. Rusl grabbed Shad's shoulder. "Why did you stab him? Is he dead?"

"He isn't dead. I had to embed a shard in him so that the portal will be strong enough to remain open." After he had arranged the pieces into a circle he stood back. Nothing happened. Shad grabbed some of the longest mirror shards and stuck them together so that there was a big X in the middle of the mirror. Nothing happened again. Shad grabbed more pieces, but stopped when the mirror shards began glowing.

The rock in front of the shards soon opened up to reveal a portal. Shad started congratulating himself, but Rusl said, "How do we get Link to the end of it?"

Shad started thinking, but his thoughts were interrupted by the portal shaking, and a grunt from a bullbo. The bullbo gave Shad an idea. "Ashei, Auru, you two try and catch the bullbo. Hurry as fast as you can. Rusl, tie link up so he won't have an arm that could be hanging loose." Rusl got to work. While they tried to do what Shad instructed, the portal kept shaking. Ashei and Auru soon returned dragging the bullbo. "Good, get it facing the portal. Rusl, tie Link onto the bullbo." When the portal shook again, Shad shouted, "Hurry!"

Rusl got Link attached to the bullbo. "Good. Rusl and Auru, you two make sure the bullbo heads straight into the portal. When they are ready, Ashei, you need to hit the bullbo as hard as you can." Auru and Rusl got on the sides of the path leading up to the portal. Ashei slapped the bullbo hard and sent it straight into the portal. The bullbo ran went straight into it. As soon as it got passed the front part, the portal started crumbling and it soon collapsed.

They stared at the portal. Rusl looked straight at Shad. "I hope what you did worked, because if it didn't, I will make sure you regret your mistake."

Auru put a hand on Rusl's shoulder. "Shad thought it through, and Link trusted him. You need to trust him as well. Right now, we need to get to the portal Link told us about."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The Last Day

All the smashers had made an effort in getting to know the various people there. Master Hand himself had gone out to gather people. He brought the five people that hadn't returned from the Melee group. Lucario and Mewtwo had quickly gotten to know each other. Roy and Ike also became quick friends. Marth joined them. Mario, however, felt a little odd looking at a doctor version of himself again.

Master Hand got all the smashers and some others they felt were important together. "Before we begin. I would like to inform you all about how bad the situation is. I can tell you that as we are right now, Tabuu's army will already be bigger than ours. With Tabuu getting one more day to build his army, I can tell you we will lose if we just have our two armies clash. If any of you are not prepared to die or do not feel like it is worth trying to fight, I advise you to leave." He looked around.

Ike stepped forward and said, "We all have faced death at some time. Whether we do it often or not, we will all be ready to die on the battlefield if that is what it takes to be victorious."

Everyone, even the villains, cheered and agreed with Ike. (Although Dr. Eggman knew he could run away if he really had to.) Master Hand for once felt hopeful. "Alright, make the last preparations you need to. In a little, the smashers and certain people will need to come with me and help come up with a plan. In the meantime, there are a few that haven't returned. Does anyone know where Olimar, Meta Knight, or Link are."

* * *

Link groaned as he tried to sit up. The pain in his chest caused him to lay back down. He looked around at where he was. He was laying on a bed in the middle of a dimly lit room. Something opened the door and what he saw shocked him. From the look of the outside sky, he knew he was in the twilight realm.

However, it wasn't being in the twilight realm that startled him. He figured he was there since that was where he was trying to go. What startled him was that the thing that opened the door was a shadow beast. Link looked for his sword, but he couldn't find it anywhere.

He moved back as far as he could on the bed. He was about to make a run for it, but then he heard someone say, "Hey, you can go. Your appearance is giving him a panic attack." The shadow beast backed out of the room, and Midna entered. However, instead of being the mighty princess Link had seen her as before she left, she had turned back into her imp form. She also used part of the fused shadow as a mask again. "You seem surprised by my current appearance." Midna said.

Link slowly got onto his feet and walked over to her. He then hugged her. She was surprised but soon returned it. "It's great to see you no matter what."

Midna smiled. "You seemed rather desperate to get here. Why was it so important to come here that you stabbed yourself with a mirror shard and tied yourself to a large pig?"

"Well…wait what?" Midna told Link that he arrived in the twilight realm tied to a bullbo. She then told him how the portal had collapsed behind him as soon as he arrived. They removed the crystal and put him in the infirmary. Link then told Midna about Tabuu and what happened the first time he came. He then explained the more recent events.

"Now," Midna said. "I'm guessing you would like to know why I'm back in this form and why there was a shadow beast." Link nodded. "When Zant was defeated, he left a few small traces in everyone here. The remaining magic is what he had used to turn the others into shadow beasts and turn me into the imp you met me as. Every once in a while, the magic resurfaces and transforms us back into what we were. The change takes place at the same time for all of us. It usually lasts for six days. Today is the third day. The magic, however, seems weaker, since the interval between each transformation gets longer."

Midna floated over to the door. Link followed her as best as he could. "So you are requesting the help of my people."

"Yes. This being, Tabuu, is too powerful for me and my friends. He has also built an army to fight. I will need all the help I can get."

"It would have been better if you met me in my true powerful form."

"I'll take what I can get. Besides, when we saved the twilight realm and Hyrule, we did it while you were in this form. I know you will make a difference if you try to help."

"I guess I better get ready."

Link smiled, but then he thought of something that might affect Midna's decision. "There's one other thing. The being who used to be in charge of the other world, Master Hand, recruited many people to take part in the tournaments. This includes villains like, well, Ganondorf."

Midna froze where she was. "Does he realize what Ganondorf has done?"

"Yes, but since he brought Ganondorf back from the dead, Ganondorf will never be able to leave that world."

Midna turned to Link. "I'm supposed to help the person that ruined this world. He gave Zant the magic to turn me into this."

"Midna,"

"I'm sorry, but from what I understand, your attempt to enter this world sealed the only way one of your kind can enter here. That means that Tabuu will be unable to destroy us. You can stay here and be safe from Tabuu's wrath, but I will not risk people to save the life of someone like Ganondorf."

Midna turned and started floating off, but Link said, "I can't stay here. I may have given orders to send some of my friends to their death. I know that Zelda and other friends I made will be involved in the battle."

Midna stopped and looked at Link, "You would fight on the same side as Ganondorf."

"Ganondorf saved my life, as well as everybody else that doesn't live in this realm. He could have run and hid, but he was the one that got us time to create an army."

"I won't fight for him,"

"Then fight for me. Fight for yourself."

Midna gave Link a puzzled look. "He can't reach us here unless he has access to a Twili."

"Master Hand is able to open portals to different worlds and time periods. If Master Hand isn't able to open a portal into this realm, he can open a portal far enough into the past to destroy any chance of you ever existing, and if Tabuu gains access to Master Hands powers again, he can erase your existence."

Midna sighed. "Fine, I will help you. Give me some time and I can gather others to help. Then I can take you back to your world and you can lead us to this other world"

* * *

The smashers and a few others gathered around a table to begin coming up with a plan. Besides the surviving smashers, they also had the Melee fighters, Shadow, who had decided that he would help, Silver, Ridley, Porky, Little Mac, Issac, Krystal, Tetra, and the three up front with Ike, Titania, Micaiah, and Soren. Meta Knight arrived and explained how he had been making another Halberd with his group, the meta knights. Olimar also arrived with Louie and thousands of pikmin. That meant Link was the last to arrive. "He's gone and run," Shadow said.

"The wielder of the triforce of courage would never run from a fight if it helped his friends," Ganondorf said. "He'll come."

"But we can't wait any longer to come up with a plan," Soren said. "We need to get started now."

"You aren't a smasher like the rest of us," Bowser said. "What makes you think you can give orders?"

"He is an accomplished strategist that has created plans that have saved thousands of lives," Ike said. "While some of us are very intelligent, Soren is the best person to put our trust in."

Soren looked around at the group. "From what I know, I agree with what Master Hand said earlier. We can't defeat the army in a straight out battle of forces. My plan is this. We begin the battle as if we are trying to beat them with just the force of our army. During the beginning, we will have everyone engaged in it, even the smashers.

"After that, we will need to come up with some sort of signal. When the signal goes off, all the smashers, plus a few more, will head to the back of the army. There is a cave right here that should take you away from the battle without anyone noticing. The group that was sent will need to make their way to the vault and interrupt the subspace forces that are keeping the vault open."

"What are we supposed to do about Tabuu?" Roy said.

"Tabuu will most likely hurry as fast as he can back to the vault when he realizes his forces there are in trouble. When he arrives, Sonic, if he is willing, will hold Tabuu off as long as he can in his Super Sonic form."

Soren looked at Sonic. Sonic laughed and said, "That'll be fun."

"There are a few things that need to be discussed," Samus said. "The first thing is who the extras are that will be going with us."

"The ideal amount would be between forty and fifty," Soren said. "So that it can stand a chance against the vault without hurting the main army. The thirty and the Melee fighters should go. Porky and Ridley should also be included. The rest will need to be volunteers."

"I will go," Little Mac said. Louie, Issac, and Titania also volunteered to go. When Micaiah volunteered to go as well, Soren persuaded her that people will look up to her on the battlefield. Krystal was the final person to volunteer to help. "The next thing we need to decide is what the signal will be."

"I can use purge until the tome breaks," Micaiah said. "I can use it far off, and the strikes should be noticeable."

"Then there's one last thing," R.O.B. said, "How do we seal the vault? We can close it temporarily, but it just takes another clone to fill its place."

"We go after the clones of smashers that had been killed." Everyone turned as Link and Midna entered the room. "The best targets would be Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong. They will be on the top of the vault with the rest of the originals. The smashers that originated from Melee with be hundreds of feet down, and the newcomers will be even further down. Also, if there are clones of a smasher that has been killed, eliminate the clone."

Link stood by the side of the table. Sonic said, "Took you long enough."

"There was more that I needed to get done." Link noticed that Midna glared at Ganondorf.

"Then the final thing we should talk about is how the battle begins," Soren said. "Here's my plan."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The Final Battle Begins

Master Hand handed out some smash balls. The smashers made it so that all their stuff was gold. Pikachu even painted gold over his black stripes. He said that the smashers could still summon final smashes is they had the right amount of energy. Eggman's robots stood in the front of the army. After them, multiple up close soldiers were ready to help. The ranged fighters stood in the back. Lucario, Link, Fox, Samus, Pit, and Marth walked up to the barrier. Fox held up a device. "Fifteen seconds left…ten seconds left…five, four, three, two, one." As soon as Fox said one, everyone charged into the world. They all had to stop, however, when Lucario, Link, Fox, Samus, Pit, and Marth were sent flying back.

They slowly got up and could see Tabuu on the other side of the barrier. Ganondorf stepped forward. "The four days are over, the barrier should have been removed."

"Actually, our deal had nothing to do with a barrier. I was never told you could reenter after the fourth day. All you did was gather together so I could finish you all at once." Tabuu grinned and left.

Ganondorf eyes grew wide as he realized he had made a mistake. He should have known Tabuu would have found a way to take advantage of the deal. The people started panicing. "Great," Shadow said. "Now we don't even have a chance of stopping Tabuu. You brought us to our death." People could see subspace clones march run toward the barrier. Sonic clones ran straight through the barrier. The six up front fought them off and soon killed them.

"It's not over," Master Hand said. He turned to Crazy Hand. "No matter what, I need you to follow me." Master Hand floated up into the sky, followed by Crazy Hand. Master Hand locked fingers with Crazy. "Trust me." Master Hand began twisting quickly with Crazy. They shot up straight into the sky and then turned toward the barrier. When they hit the barrier, they fell and crashed on the other side of the barrier. The barrier fell apart and crashed onto the ground like shards of glass.

Link kicked a Sonic to the side and stared at the destroyed barrier. He turned to the others and said, "The barrier is gone. CHARGE!" Everyone went screaming forward. Lucario got up front and jumped in the air. From in the air, he started using aura storm and blasting all the clones. Nearby, Link had caught a clone in a Triforce Slash. Hundreds of clones that got a little too close were launched back. Fox, Falco, and Wolf all summoned their landmasters.

Clones started rushing to where Master Hand and Crazy Hand had fallen. Marth shouted, "Protect the Hands!" He used critical strike on a Snake clone. After he sent that clone flying, he slashed at an approaching Sonic and raised his sword to block bullets from Foxes and Falcos.

Five of them were launched up into the air as Ike shouted, "Raise Aether!" He finished them off by slamming them into the ground. Ike quickly turned and took out the others before they could react. An arrow shot past Ike and embedded into the chest of a Link clone. Ike turned and saw Link fire a bomb arrow at a few primids that had gathered together. Toon Link jumped through the air and stabbed a Yoshi.

Zelda summoned a fireball and threw it so it hit an Olimar. Zelda turned and rolled away as a Donkey Kong smashed into the ground next to her. Zelda picked him up and threw him into a few Diddy Kongs. Samus grabbed one of the Diddy Kongs and stole its jetpack. Samus charged it up and launched it into a group of primids. She was suddenly tackled by a Captain Falcon. Samus got up and blocked a jab to the face. Captain falcon made a few quick jabs, but Samus was able to avoid them. She punched him in the face and blasted him while he was on the ground. She charged a charge shot and fired it into the middle of a Giant primid's chest.

Thousands of primids and clones continued to come at the army. Talented swordsmen were dueling clones of Marth, Ike, and Link. Up in the air, Meta Knight's newly built Halberd opened its hatches and dropped thousands of different kinds of pikmin onto the clones below. Once the Halberd had dropped all of the pikmin, it turned back to get some more. The pikmin were able to handle the primids, but had a more difficult time with clones. Olimar and Louie used their pikmin tethers to grab two R.O.B.s and smash them together.

Fox, Falco, Wolf, Samus, and Captain Falcon clones were flying copies of their original ships and engaging forces others had brought. Falco barrel rolled as a clone of himself started firing at him. Falco did a quick dive and ended up behind him. A few quick shots sent the clone crashing into a battle between Eggman robots and primids.

Sonic, Shadow, and Silver dashed among the primids. They kicked primids and dashed off before they had a chance to react. Other Sonic clones attempted to keep up with the trio, but they lacked the true speed of Sonic the hedgehog. Sonic stopped and kicked one, causing the others to trip over the fallen clone. One clone made it by, but was taken down by Shadow.

Thousands of rockets were suddenly shot from the back of the subspace army. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver ran to avoid the blasts, but they ended up being launched. Galleoms charged forward and started throwing soldiers. One of the Galleoms was quickly overwhelmed by several shadow beasts. Fox dove toward the ground and fired missiles at a few close together. A few seconds later, his wing was hit and he began to fall. He ejected just before he hit the ground. As Fox landed on the ground, he heard in his communicator, "Fox, are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah Slippy. I'll just have to keep fighting on the ground." Fox pulled out his blaster and began firing at primids that started swarming him. As the amount of Primids started becoming too much for Fox, another wave of pikmin were dropped right over Fox. The pikmin gave Fox the chance to escape. Fox ran off, but was stopped by a clone of Link. Fox jumped over a swing and kicked Link in the back. The Link quickly turned and threw its boomerang. Fox jumped over the boomerang and grabbed Link. He threw the clone into the ground and began kicking him multiple times. Another Link clone approached Fox from behind.

The clone was about to stab Fox, but it was suddenly knocked over by Wolf Link with Midna. Midna grabbed the clone with her hair and threw it away. Fox finished his clone off and turned toward Link and Midna. Link changed back into his normal form. "You know, I have problems with wolves," Fox said.

"Don't judge all wolves based on Wolf." He turned around and took out another bomb arrow, he aimed and fired it at a distant Galleom. An explosion in the sky caused them to look up. One of Ridley's space pirates had been shot down. Ridley grabbed a Samus clone's ship and chucked it into the ground. The explosion destroyed multiple pikmin clone Olimars had gathered. The Halberd passed over to drop its last load of pikmin. As soon as the Halberd had dropped the last of its pikmin, it began engaging enemy ships. Meta Knight and Mr. Game & Watch jumped off the deck., and started destroying a swarm of bytans. After they destroyed the group, they noticed something in the sky that shocked them. Tabuu had been able to recreate Halberds.

Meta Knight called his men on the ship. "Destroy the copies of the Haalberd. Make sure they know about our superiority."

"Understood." The Halberd fired its main gun to quickly take out one the Halberd copies. The ship started engaging another. The Halberd copies began dropping subspace bugs, clones, glires, glices, glunders, and bytans. Multiple space pirate ships focused in on the things being dropped and began firing at them. They destroyed hundreds, but were only able to get a small portion of the creatures. Yoshi turned into an egg and crashed into several glices. Yoshi left the egg and ate a bytan. He spat it at a Kirby clone that tried to hit Yoshi. Another Kirby clone landed a hit on Yoshi with his hammer.

Several clones started approaching the fallen Yoshi. Soren stepped in their way. Soren summoned up a powerful wind and blew them all away. Titania rode by and swung her axe at a primid. Ike joined them with the rest of the Greil Mercenaries along with Laguz tigers. Kirby and Knuckle Joe flew in while riding a star. They crashed into a Jigglypuff clone. When they got off, they grabbed Yoshi and summoned another star. The Greil Mercenaries, Knuckle Joe, and Kirby all retreated.

Ganondorf and Bowser were getting surrounded by multiple clones as well. Ganondorf pulled out his sword and dueled three Links at once. Bowser burnt a Mario before grabbing a Luigi and throwing him at a group of primids. Peach smashed into Bowser's side. Bowser got back up and charged Peach. When Peach tried again, Bowser jumped up into the air and smashed down on her. A donkey Kong charged Bowser, but he was cut down by Ganondorf's sword. Ganondorf turned and eliminated the last of the clones. He looked around and noticed a Galleom coming right at them. Toon Link jumped straight up into the air and stabbed his sword into the Galleom's back. Wolf dived down and started firing shots at it. The Galleom blew up just after Toon Link jumped off.

Mario, Luigi, and Peach were fighting there way over to the villains. Luigi launched into a primids chest. Mario had a fireball duel with a fire primid until Peach smacked it across the head with a frying pan. Mario grabbed and threw a Samus clone up into the air. Mario then jumped up and slammed it back into the ground. Luigi kicked it when it tried to get back up. When a large group of primids got in their way, Mario used Mario finale to send a wave of fire and move them away.

Pikachu was using volt tackle to join Samus in battle. Samus fired a charge shot at a Duon. Pikachu jumped onto its back and called down thunder. The Duon quickly collapsed. Pikachu launched himself into a Marth and messed up his attempts to kill a soldier. Ness ran over and used PK fire on a Bulbusaur that was approaching. Lucas shot thunder and took out a Lucario clone Pikachu was fighting.

Mewtwo and Lucario were fighting thousands. If they hadn't gotten help from Red, Roy, Jigglypuff, and Dr. Mario, they would have been killed. Mewtwo teleported behind a Mario. As he turned around Mewtwo punched him in the face. Lucario killed a Snake clone and quickly destroyed a primid. Red had thrown all three of his pokemon to fight at once. Jigglypuff rolled and knocked an Olimar off of Squirtle. Charizard grabbed a rock and hurled it at a group of primids. Roy was dueling any swordsmen that approached them. He quickly stabbed an Ike before dealing with three Marths. Roy killed one, but another slashed his side. He blocked a thrust, but was kicked by the other Marth. Roy rolled away as they both attempted to kill Roy. Roy looked up to see one Marth fall. The other soon fell as an arrow was lodged into his head. Young Link had come to help them.

A Pit clone attempted to stab Lucario. As he made the attempt. Lucario suddenly disappeared. Pit turned in time to see Lucario kick him and slam him into the floor. Red was being attacked by primids. His pokemon were busy keeping others away. Red took his backpack off and hit one in the head. He turned and hit another. Dr. Mario ran over and tackled several of them, but there were still others. Red continued hitting them with his backpack until one of the primids grabbed it and threw it aside. Bulbasaur was able to pull one away, but there were two others. Red looked at his pokemon and said, "Triple force!" Red dived to the side as his three pokemon got together and started firing at the primids. When Red looked back up, they were all gone. He ran over to his backpack and picked it back up.

Nana and Popo jumped over to help Red as more tried to surround him. They smashed primids with their mallets. Popo and Nana twirled together and collided with clones of themselves doing the exact same thing. They knocked over the clones. Nana and Popo hesitated until they decided Popo would defeat Popo and Nana would defeat Nana.

Tabuu had joined the battle by now. A Laguz jumped up and tried to claw at him, but Tabuu simply made a sword and flung him aside. He searched for a smasher to kill. He realized it would be hard to pick out any particular smasher among all the clones. He settled with finding some people that seemed to be particularly talented at a certain thing. When he found one, he would engage whatever it was and leave after killing the thing and feeling disappointed.

He noticed a man in a large vehicle that seemed to be commanding the majority of the robots. His robots were killing hundreds of the subspace creatures, but they seemed to focus on clones of Sonic. Tabuu drifted down toward him. The man laughed, "Mwa ha ha ha ha. Take that Sonic. This is for every scheme of mine you ever ruined."

"And who are you? You do realize you are helping Sonic."

"Huh, oh you must be him. I'm Dr. Eggman, and you're the one that is threatening my chances of taking over the world."

"Isn't that actually Sonic." Eggman froze and thought about what Tabuu was saying. "Sonic doesn't expect you to kill him right now. Why not take advantage of this moment. Send your robots out to 'help' Sonic, and when he doesn't expect it, kill him."

Dr. Eggman thought about it, "Aren't you the one that is trying to destroy everything."

"I will not likely return again if I fail this time. As long as Sonic is around, he will always come back. Besides, one hedgehog can't make that great of a difference, even if it's Sonic the Hedgehog."

A plane suddenly crashed into Tabuu. Tails landed in between Dr. Eggman and Tabuu. "Don't do it Eggman," Tails said. "He's going to do exactly what he told you to do to Sonic."

Tabuu smiled. "Aren't you a clever rodent."

"I'm a fox. What are you supposed to be?"

Tabuu rushed forward and smashed Tails into a wall. "Nothing that you could ever comprehend."

Dr. Eggman focused back onto Tabuu. "Robots, destroy him." The robots began firing at Tabuu. Tabuu simply rammed into them and started destroying them.

Tabuu was suddenly punched in the face. He turned and saw Knuckles, Amy, Rogue, Espio, Victor, Blaze, Shadow, and Silver. "I saw what you did to Tails," Knuckles said. "You're going to pay for it."

"Don't you ever try to kill Sonic again," Amy said.

Tabuu simply laughed. He threw a robot arm he grabbed at another robot. "Even more of Sonic's friends want to die quickly. Don't get your hopes up though. I'll make sure to make this slow and painful."

He charged forward and kicked Victor straight into a wall. The remaining robots began firing at Tabuu again, as Sonic's friends tried to take Tabuu down. Sonic could see from the distance that Tabuu was fighting his friends. "Oh no, I have to help them."

"Sonic move!" Link shouted as he tackled Sonic. Missiles flew by and crashed around where Sonic and Link had been. Link turned toward a Galleom as he pulled out his ball & chain. He swung it over his head before throwing it at Galleom. Galleom fell down onto the ground and exploded. The ground started shaking, but it didn't stop after Galleom had stopped exploding. Link and Sonic looked up into the sky.

Tabuu had been able to recreate several subspace gunships. Three flew out and began firing. They flew forward toward the Halberd as it destroyed another Halberd copy. Before the Halberd had a chance to react, the subspace gunship fired and destroyed the Halberd. The Great Fox had been brought, and it was engaging one of the subspace gunships. Despite everything The Great Fox tried, it was taking more damage than the subspace gunship. The Great Fox dove straight up. It then nose dived until it crashed into the top of the gunship.

The second and third ones began getting their guns ready. They started firing at all enemy spaceships. Ridley grabbed two spaceships belonging to Falco clones and threw them into the side of one of the ships. There were small explosions, but there was practically no damage. Krystal flew close to the top of the ship. She fired at some key points that seemed to cause lots of damage. Other pilots followed her example and fired until the third was destroyed.

The fourth one had gotten its guns ready. Anyone that tried to get close was either killed, shot down, or had to retreat. Suddenly, five large strikes of light smashed down onto the top of the ship. There were a few more explosions and then the ship was destroyed in one large explosion. "That's the signal," Link said.

"I need to help my friends."

Link turned and saw that more subspace gunships were coming. He turned to see Rusl fighting a Link clone. Rusl knocked the sword out of the clone's hand and stabbed it in the middle of the chest. "That's odd to watch," Link said to himself. "Hey Rusl."

Rusl looked over to Link, "Hey Link. What do you need?"

"My friend's friends are fighting Tabuu over there." Link said as he pointed to where they were. "If they get so they can't handle anymore, I need you to send people over to help."

"What about you and your friend?"

"We have somewhere we need to go."

They heard screams as Amy was flung away. "I'll see what help I can get right now." Rusl ran off. Link and Sonic began retreating. They had some problem as clones ambushed them on the way back. Little Mac arrived along with two shadow beasts. Midna appeared from Link's shadow and tossed some of the clones away. Little Mac used an uppercut on a Snake clone and knocked out a Captain Falcon. After Captain Falcon was finished, Midna, Little Mac, Link, and Sonic moved on. By the time they reached the rendezvous point, everyone else had arrived.

Zelda made sure that everyone was there before they began going. R.O.B. led the way as they all entered the cave. A few people looked back, but Sonic stayed back to tell everyone it would be okay. He was the last one to enter. Before he went in, he looked back and could see the explosions, he heard gunshots and watched as several ship were shot down. Another large explosion showed another subspace gunship had been shot down. Sonic told himself everything would be okay, but the last thought he had before entering the cave was "I hope I'm right."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The Vault

They all gathered near the vault. They were close enough that they could see the front of the vault. At the bottom, newcomer clones were doing various things to keep the vault open. Sonic was on a sort of treadmill running as fast as he could. Wario was on something similar for his motorcycle. A Lucas was firing lightning into a small hole on the side. Toon Link was putting bombs in a small thing in the ground. Snake simply set a box onto a pad.

On a level about two hundred feet above the newcomers, The Melee fighters were also doing things. Marth continually stabbed at a small target. Bowser was breathing fire. The ice climbers shot cool blasts out of their hands.

Several hundred more feet, the original smashers were using their skills to keep the vault open. Mario and Luigi were constantly firing fireballs. Link was throwing his boomerang to spin a sort of wheel. Donkey Kong slapped his hands down on a pad. Captain Falcon continually Falcon punched a small target.

The vault itself was a large white structure. The back lacked steps and was completely smooth. The different stations that smashers had to be at to unlock the vault were all near the front. Up top, there was a large hole that allowed subspace bugs to escape. There was a large tube attached to the hole that seemed to take the bugs somewhere else.

Samus pointed to a rock some distance off. "You can confront Tabuu there if he comes," she said to Sonic. Sonic nodded and dashed off toward where she pointed. The rest of the group went to the back of the vault.

They all looked up the side to see the top hundreds of feet above them. "How do we get up there?" Fox asked. "We didn't bring any ships to use to fly up there.

"Pit, Meta Knight, R.O.B. Ridley, and Charizard all fly up there," Olimar said. "Anyone else can try to get that high if they can find an inconspicuous way up. They can take a few small guys as well, like me, Louie, and one of the kids. The fourth will have to carry something long enough that it can be carried up."

"Anyone have rope?" Falco said.

Krystal, Link, Toon Link, Young Link, and the ice climbers all pulled out a thing of rope. "This isn't going to be enough," Krystal said.

"Me and Olimar can help," Louie said. He found a clear space and he started plucking pikmin out of the ground. Olimar also did it until they had about a hundred pikmin. They had all the pikmin hold on to the end of the rope.

The rope and added pikmin were put into Charizards hands. Ridley took Mr. Game & Watch up to the top Pit grabbed Olimar and three pikmin. Meta Knight grabbed Louie and a few pikmin. R.O.B. carried both of the ice climbers to the top. Kirby and Jigglypuff were able to float up. Lucario wall clung to the side and eventually made his way up. Link turned into a wolf and jumped onto really tall rocks that were near the vault top with Midna's help. Link made it just a little after the fliers and their passengers did. The clones still hadn't noticed the smashers. Kirby and Jigglypuff made it up and Lucario soon joined them. Charizard looked down and threw the rope over the side of the vault

They started letting others climb up the rope. Diddy Kong was the first one. He quickly climbed to the top. Toon Link went next. He was followed by Ike, who was followed by Red, then Pichu, then Mario. Luigi was about to go until Bowser shoved him aside and began climbing. Ike had to help Charizard immediately. A few of the pikmin squeeked as they were stretched to their limit. A moan suddenly came from one of the pikmin. It let go and turned into a ghost. Bowser screamed as he fell and hit the ground hard. When Bowser landed, even the smashers on the vault's top felt the ground shake.

The vault snapped shut. They could hear people walking over. Ike rushed around the side and stabbed a Mario. The others quickly rushed to help, but the smashers that were up were already to strong. The other 11 originals were killed, ending with Ness being thrown off the top. Link looked down and could see all the clones staring back up at him. Replacement clones suddenly flooded the stairs in an attempt to get up.

Olimar ran over to R.O.B. "Give me a lift down, and then start carrying others up here." R.O.B. nodded and brought Olimar to the ground. R.O.B. then grabbed Pikachu and flew back up. Olimar started plucking pikmin.

A few Sonic clones rushed around to the back. One of them shouted, "There's more back here." They then all rushed forward. They were quickly cut down by Young Link, Marth, and Issac. More rushed around the side. Bowser jumped over the others and slammed down onto the clones. The four star fox people went to the other side as clones started coming from there. Fox kicked one into the air. Falco jumped up and slammed the clone into others.

Up top, dozens of Yoshis rolled up the stairs in an attempt to get past. Meta Knight charged down like a drill and scattered them. He quickly moved back as an Ike tried to kill him. Link fired an arrow and killed the Ike. He grabbed a bomb arrow next and fired it where several Captain Falcon's had gathered together. Link grabbed another arrow, but wasn't able to fire when another arrow zoomed past his head. Link looked at the bomb arrow he was holding and threw it down the stairs.

A few Sonics tried dashing up the stairs, but only one made it up. The others tripped and caused others to fall. Mario, Squirtle, Kirby, and Pikachu jumped straight into the pile. They eliminated clones as they fell over others. They soon ran all the way back up to avoid going too far. Louie grabbed ten pikmin and threw them onto the top of the pile. Ness and Lucas, who had recently been brought up, used PK flash and PK freeze on the ones closest to the top.

Olimar swung the pikmin rope he made. He threw it as hard as he could and barely missed. He threw it again and the top pikmin was able to grab the pikmin above where the last one had died. Bowser rushed to the rope, but Olimar pushed him back and motioned for Luigi to go. Young Link went than Peach. During this, Olimar made sure Bowser waited. Olimar quickly picked up a pikmin and threw it at a Pit approaching Bowser from behind. Bowser turned and started getting involved in the battle as well. Olimar left the rope and helped out as well.

Titania rode on her horse and cut the head off of a R.O.B. She locked blades with an Ike. Her horse stood up on its hind legs and then fell on top of Ike. Suddenly, a King Dedede smacked Titania and her horse with his hammer cannon fully charged. Titania was launched into the side of the vault. King Dedede was stabbed by Marth. Dr. Mario rushed over to Titania. "Are-a you alright?"

"I'm fine if you can fix me."

"Well I'm-a sorry, but I cannot fix this much damage with what I have. You need to get out of here."

"I can't leave. I need to help."

"You-a already did."

Bowser walked over. "I can get her to a place where they will be temporarily safe." Dr. Mario nodded. Bowser picked Titania and her horse up. Then, he left to find a place where they would be safe until the battle was over.

* * *

Tabuu threw Silver up into the air. He didn't know where he would land, he just knew he wasn't getting up. Dr Eggman had ran away by then. One of the Greil Mercenaries, a man named Shinon, fired an arrow straight for Tabuu. Tabuu grabbed the arrow, turned it around, and threw it right back at Shinon. The arrow struck his shoulder. Ike's sister, mist, walked over to Shinon began healing him. Tabuu grabbed a rock and threw it at her. She collapsed on top of Shinnon. Sothe, Micaiah's closest friend, dashed up a rock and grabbed onto Tabuu's back. He stabbed him on the back, but was picked up and slammed into the ground. Ashei grabbed Shinnon's bow and ran for a place with cover. Knuckles jumped in front of Tabuu. As Tabuu focused on him, Shadow jumped up from behind and kicked Tabuu in the back. Tabuu turned and threw Knuckles at Shadow. Shadow ran off before Knuckles hit the ground.

Slippy the Toad dived down and began firing at Tabuu. Tabuu deflected the bullets with his hand. He grabbed one and threw it back at Slippy's wing. Slippy crashed somewhere off in the distance. Ashei temporarily moved out of her cover and fired an arrow. Tabuu grabbed his shoulder as the arrow stopped there. He fired an energy ball that sent Ashei crashing into a wall. Rusl jumped up and swung at Tabuu. Tabuu yanked the sword out of Rusl's hands and stabbed him in the side. Rusl fell onto the ground gasping for air.

Shadow jumped up again and tried to land a kick. Tabuu turned and grabbed Shadow before he could get out of the way. He brought Shadow inches from his face and said, "You never should have come to help Sonic. Now, I'll kill you."

Shadow was suddenly launched out of Tabuu's hands by a powerful gust of wind. Soren was standing on a rock facing Tabuu alone. Tabuu slowly floated toward Soren. Soren grabbed his most powerful wind tome and used it on Tabuu. The winds were powerful enough that all the others were blown away. Dr. Eggman's robot pieces were removed from the area. Tabuu however, seemed to be unaffected by the wind.

Soren used up all the energy he had. He collapsed onto the ground gasping. Tabuu formed a blade and lined it up with Soren's neck. Soren held his hands up, but Tabuu simply kicked them away. Tabuu raised the sword above his head.

"Master Tabuu," A Fox clone said.

"What?" Tabuu said irritably. He made it so the blade disappeared.

"Reports from the Vault say the smashers and a small group of others have attacked the vault and disrupted our process of freeing the subspace bugs."

Tabuu quickly realized he had been tricked. He began rushing off, but he stopped. He pointed to Soren and said, "Kill him."

"Yes master." Tabuu flew off without a second word. Soren reached into his bag and grabbed another tome. Soren saw Fox point the gun at his face. He quickly used wind magic to blast him away. Soren got up and went to where Slippy crashed. He opened the ship and heard Slippy start groaning. Soren helped Slippy out and then grabbed the radio. He started pressing random buttons. He started mumbling to himself, "How do I contact Peppy Hare?"

"You already have," Peppy said through the radio. "What do you need?"

"You know which ones are Captain Falcons and which ones are Donkey Kongs."

"Yes."

"I need you to kill every last clone of either Captain Falcon or Donkey Kong. If you can find more that aren't in this battle, hunt them down no matter what it takes. Don't worry about any that are at the vault. A team was sent to take care of them."

"Understood, I'll get a team on it."

* * *

Tabuu rushed towards the vault as fast as he could. It was a good thing that he was nearly as fast as Sonic. He was only a thousand feet away when he heard someone yell, "Hey, how's it going?"

Tabuu looked at a nearby group of rocks and saw Sonic sitting on one of them. "Even you aren't a big enough idiot to try to face me like you are right now."

"I was thinking we can go get a few chili dogs, but you hurt my friends, so that might be a bit awkward."

"Stop stalling. Either let me kill you, or fight me."

"You could pass me by."

"You have been about as much trouble as King Dedede. Why would I pass on an opportunity to kill you?"

"What about the whole trophy thing?"

"I know you have returned to your original strength at the cost of being able to normally die."

"Darn. Well, I guess I'll just have to beat you."

"You can't beat me."

"You never know."

"You don't have the power."

"Really? I think I do." Sonic pulled out the seven chaos emeralds. During the fighting, part of the gold in his fur had chipped off. When he pulled out the chaos emeralds, he became an even brighter gold. The places where paint had chipped off were gone. He had become Super Sonic. "Here! I'll show you!"

Sonic charged forward and punched Tabuu in the face. Tabuu rubbed his cheek, allowing Sonic to land a few more punches.

All the smashers saw the fight begin. They had been able to get the rest of the group to the top of the vault. Little Mac uppercut a Jigglypuff. He then jumped up and punched her so hard, she knocked several dozen other clones over. The real Jigglypuff moved to the front of the stairs and began to sing. The sleeping clones blocked the way up, allowing people with ranged weapons to kill even more. Ganondorf jumped over the sleeping clones and cut up a Link and two Marths. A Diddy Kong jumped into his face and began hitting him. Link pulled him back before a Donkey Kong could grab him. Luigi and Mario both threw fireballs down. Issac dueled a Pit near the top. Pichu also threw small thunderbolts down the stairs

Several minutes passed and the group had taken a few more losses. Young Link, Pichu, Mr. Game & Watch and Louie had all become too hurt to keep fighting. Dr. Mario didn't have stuff to help them either. He was able to help others who had more minor injuries.

Fox suddenly touched his ear. "Hey guys, Peppy Hare says the last two Captain Falcon clones are at the vault." He pointed at two people just below the middle of the stairs. "And they're right there."

* * *

Tabuu blocked another kick from Sonic. He punched Sonic in the chest. Sonic rolled across the ground for a few seconds before he blasted off and rammed his head into Tabuu's stomach. Sonic threw Tabuu to the ground. Tabuu got back up and released ten quick energy balls. Sonic avoided every single one. Tabuu then formed a laser and started firing it at Sonic.

As Sonic dodged it, he noticed something odd. Cracks began to form. A bit of white light leaked out of the cracks. Sonic was too distracted to dodge Tabuu's laser. He was hit and shot off somewhere in the distance.

Tabuu breathed heavily. A Marth clone slowly approached Tabuu, "Master Tabuu," he said.

"What?"

"Some R.O.B. clones intercepted a transmission. The transmission said that all Captain Falcon clones were dead except for two at the vault."

"Then, tell me, why is this important?"

"Ships have been leaving the battlefield only to kill that particular type of clone, then leave."

Tabuu thought it over. He wanted to know what made that kind of clone special. It was the only one of its world. It was a clone based on an original smasher. It was based on a dead smasher.

Tabuu's last thought made him realize what the plan was. He turned to the temple and rushed off.

* * *

Lucario jumped down and threw an aura sphere and killed one of the remaining two. The other clones seemed to realize they were focusing on Captain Falcon. They used their bodies to shield him as best as they could, but they were being destroyed. Captain Falcon turned and began to run. He rolled out of the way of a streak of bullets. He dodged arrow after arrow. He kicked Meta Knight away and began to run off. He began to run off. No one there was fast enough to catch him. Anyone that could have gotten him from the distance was suddenly attacked by subspace clones.

Except Toon Link. He got himself high enough that he could see above the others. He pulled one arrow out and aimed carefully. He hoped with all his might he would hit and fired. The air shot across the air. Everyone stopped to see whether it would hit or miss. Captain Falcon turned and saw it just before it pierced his back.

The smashers cheered. The subspace clones didn't care to keep fighting. As the celebration was happening, they all became silent quickly. Tabuu was looking at the remaining clones. "He can't be gone." He shot up into the sky. "There has to be one more." He searched everywhere, but he couldn't find one. There would never be another Captain Falcon. They were all gone.

Tabuu shot towards the ground and killed all but one clone. He picked up the remaining clone by the neck, a Lucas. "Which one of them killed the final Captain Falcon?"

Lucas gasped for air as he said, "Toon *cough* Link."

Tabuu crushed the clones neck and dropped it to the ground. He looked around through the assembled group. He saw Toon Link and rushed forward and picked up Toon Link. Toon Link screamed as he was lifted off the ground. Tabuu formed the sword and stabbed Toon Link straight through the chest. Toon Link's face was shocked at first, but he soon closed his eyes.

Tabuu dropped him from where they were in the sky. He landed on the top level of the vault. Dr. Mario rushed over and checked Toon Link. Eventually he shouted down to the others, "Dead!"

"Of course he's dead," Tabuu said as he floated down. He kicked Dr. Mario off of the vault. "But he won't be the last to die."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Tabuu

The smashers stared up the statue. R.O.B. fired a laser at him. Tabuu absorbed the laser blast. He then formed a large energy ball. He threw it at the base of the vault. Almost everyone went flying. People with shields, the ability to teleport, or the ability to temporarily disappear were safe. Some kids huddled behind Link and Pit's shield. The energy bounced off the energy shields Star Fox people had.

Lucario reappeared and noticed that most of the others had been wiped out. He fired an aura sphere up the side. Mewtwo did the same with a dark sphere. Tabuu grabbed the spheres and threw them back. Mewtwo moved out of the way, but Lucario was hit. Pit fired an arrow at Tabuu. Tabuu moved to the side. He quickly went down the stairs and kicked Pit. Link took out the ball and chain. He aimed and connected with Tabuu's side. A few small cracks started forming that released light. Tabuu grabbed the ball and chain and used it to throw Link into a nearby rock pile.

During the time, Midna had avoided the blast by hiding in Link's shadow. She reappeared and took out the fused shadow pieces. She turned into a large spider-like, monster. She created a large spear and thrust it at Tabuu. Tabuu grabs the spear and starts to tugging on it. Midna holds on and even punches Tabuu. Tabuu lets go of the spear and grabs one of Midna's legs. He pulls her forward and rips two of the fused shadow pieces off. Fox, Falco, Krystal, and Wolf all begin firing at Tabuu. Tabuu didn't seem to be harmed by any of the bullets, but the cracks were slowly spreading. Tabuu created a small wave and knocked away the fighters.

Lucario kicked Tabuu in the back of the head. Little Mac had gotten up and punched Tabuu straight in the back. Tabuu grabbed Lucario and swung him at Little Mac. Little Mac spun dazed as Tabuu focused on Lucario. "You know, you're number three on my list." Tabuu slammed Lucario into the ground. He then fired a bunch of small bullets straight into Lucario's back. Lucario tried to crawl away, but it became too much. He laid down and breathed heavily.

Tabuu formed another energy ball. Olimar roped Tabuu's arm with some pikmin. Tabuu pulled onto the rope and yanked Olimar over. He threw him onto the ground and said, "Wait your turn." Tabuu aimed the energy ball and threw it straight down onto Lucario, After the blast had cleared, people could see that Lucario had been destroyed.

Tabuu suddenly felt something grab onto his neck. He looked and saw Samus had grabbed him with a plasma whip. Yoshi ran over and grabbed Tabuu's leg with his tongue. Olimar grabbed the other leg and Bulbasaur grabbed an arm. Midna grabbed Tabuu's other arm while riding Wolf Link. Tabuu strained against the five pulling on him. He threw Midna up first. He then swung Bulbasaur so he would hit Midna. Olimar was kicked into Yoshi. Samus grabbed the whip and swung it so Samus was directly in front of him. He formed the sword again. Before he could stab Samus again, Ridley slammed him into the ground. Ridley began firing fireballs straight down at Tabuu. Tabuu reached up and shut Ridley's mouth shut. He recreated the blade and stabbed Ridley into the chest. Ridley stabbed Tabuu in the chest with his tail. He then flew off to get some help.

Tabuu started getting up, but he was punched hard in the face. Ganondorf jumped into the air, and landed as hard as he could on Tabuu's chest. Tabuu quickly moved before Ganondorf could do anything else. He smashed Ganondorf's head into the ground again and again. Suddenly, Ganondorf turned into Ganon. He started swatting at Tabuu. Tabuu sliced at Ganon, but it didn't have any effect. Tabuu grabbed Ganon and threw him into the side of the vault. By the time Ganon collided into the side, he was back to Ganon. Tabuu turned and saw Fox and Link seemed to be morning Lucario's death. He fired a quick shot. They both rolled out of the way. Sheik threw a few darts at him, but he caught every single one. He aimed at Sheik and threw them back.

Tabuu was suddenly being sliced by Roy, Ike, Marth, Meta Knight, Isaac, and Pit. Tabuu raised his sword and fought all six of them at once. He quickly swung and sliced Pit's side. Isaac locked blades with him. Marth came from behind and landed a few blows. Tabuu kicked Isaac before turning and grabbing Marth by the neck. Before he could crush his neck, Roy and Ike both stabbed Tabuu. Tabuu threw Marth into the vault wall and swung at Ike. He blocked all of Roy's attempts, but he was focused on removing Ike. Isaac blocked a blow that would have been fatal. Link fired an arrow into Tabuu's head. Tabuu ripped it out and changed it into a spear. He then swung it and hit Roy across the face.

Link ran in and helped as much as he could. He noticed that anything that hit Tabuu didn't hurt him, but it spread the cracks. Anytime Tabuu used some special power, the cracks also spread. His thoughts were interrupted when Ike was thrown into him. Tabuu swung his blade around and knocked Meta Knight's sword out of his hand. Meta Knight ran for it as Roy got back into the fight with Pit. Link carried Ike away, who was to hurt to even stand up. He turned back and saw Isaac launched towards the same place Marth was. Yoshi rolled forward and collided with Tabuu. Pit took advantage of the moment and sliced Tabuu's cheek. Tabuu turned and stabbed the spear through Pit's left wing. Pit dropped his knives as he tried to yank himself off the spear. Tabuu picked up the spear with Pit still on it and threw it so it was stuck in some rocks. Tabuu moved out of Roy's way and kicked him across the ground.

He turned back to the others. R.O.B. tried again to shoot Tabuu, but Tabuu simply caught and threw it back. It R.O.B.'s right side and took of an arm. The Ice Climbers charged Tabuu. Tabuu back handed Nana, but he grabbed Popo. He squeezed Popo's neck until he passed out. "Let me show you what I plan to do to all of you."

"NO!" Nana shouted. Tabuu dropped Popo and blocked a charge shot aimed at him.

He shot straight at Samus and picked her up. "If you wanted to be next, you could have waited." Tabuu was kicked in the head by Wolf. Wolf jumped again, but Tabuu grabbed his foot. "Ah, another wants to give up on life. You have been a big thorn in my side." He turned toward everyone else as he slowly floated up. "All of you have! I have been a fool merely swatting you aside! Now I'm going to make sure to kill anyone who challenges me." He quickly descended towards the ground. As soon as his feet touched, he slammed Wolf and Samus as hard as he could into the ground. He threw their limp bodies next to the still unconscious Popo. He summoned the largest energy ball he ever had and threw it down onto the three bodies.

Everyone was launched off of the ground. Nana screamed "POPO!" but no one could hear her over the blast. They all landed far off from where Tabuu was. The tall ones could barely see into the crater that Tabuu made. The short ones didn't need to look to know the three were gone. Most of the people that had been able to get back onto their feet had fallen back over again.

Tabuu looked at the fallen smashers and looked for Link or Mario. He found Mario first. He aimed, but stopped when he heard from behind, "Hey, Tabuu."

Tabuu turned and threw the sphere. Nothing was over there. He turned back around and could see an ordinary Sonic struggling to stay standing up. Tabuu smiled as he made another sphere. "You never should have gone against me."

"If I helped you, then you would be my master. And I told you, I have no master, except for the wind that blows free."

"Then you will soon join death." Tabuu threw the energy sphere. Sonic covered his eyes as he waited for it. He was suddenly shoved back. He opened his eyes and saw Link holding his shield. Tabuu began to gain his anger back. "Why don't any of you just stay down?"

Link held up the back of his right hand. "Because we have the courage to fight monsters like you."

"And the power to resist you." Ganondorf said as he joined Link.

"And we all have the wisdom to know what will happen if we give in," Zelda said.

"More would lose family like brothers," Nana said.

"Or sisters," Marth said.

"Or even parents," Ike said.

"So no matter how many times it seems as if we lost," Bowser said.

"We can always get up and back into the fight," Little Mac said.

"Because even the smallest can make a difference," Olimar said.

"We-a have friends to protect," Mario said.

"And everyone needs someone to look out for them," Fox said.

"So to make sure that happens," Meta Knight said. "We have come here to stop you."

"And no matter what it is we have to face, it can be defeated," Sonic said.

"Because Ike said something a while ago," Link said. "Everyone has limits."

"I have no limits," Tabuu said.

"You do, and we'll find them." Fox said. Fox looked up quickly before saying, "You might want to look up."

Tabuu glanced up in time to see Kirby turn into a rock and land on Tabuu. Other smaller guys rushed forward and began swarming Tabuu. Link gathered everyone together that was with him. "Tabuu is exhausting himself. The more damage he takes or energy he uses, the more he is literally cracking up. If he uses too much energy, we might be able to get rid of him." They turned to see Pikachu call down thunder onto Tabuu. Jigglypuff started singing, causing Tabuu to feel drowsy. He was immediately woken up when Kirby hit him with a hammer in the face.

Tabuu formed an energy ball, but he dropped it when Link tugged on his arm. Tabuu formed the sword again. His arm was cut by Ganondorf. Marth stabbed Tabuu in the back and quickly rolled away. Zelda hit Tabuu with a fireball. Link threw a bomb to Kirby. Kirby jumped above Tabuu and threw it straight down. Diddy Kong grabbed onto Tabuu's face. Diddy Kong let go just before Tabuu stabbed him. Tabuu turned and started firing bullets. Most ran while Link and Fox used their shields. Sonic dashed forward and kicked Tabuu in the face. Tabuu turned to face Sonic, but he was kicked again by Fox. Falco had gotten up and ran by just after kicking Tabuu again. Link fired arrows while Zelda shot fireballs. Nana hit Tabuu any time she could find an opening. Bowser belly flopped down onto Tabuu.

The cracks started getting larger. Tabuu grabbed his head as he finally felt the pain of all the hits he had taken. He screamed and sent a wave that knocked everyone back. The cracks spread all the way up, and light was popping out in multiple places. All the smashers were hurt really bad. They looked up, but they were disappointed when they realized Tabuu was still alive.

People began getting up again. Most, however, were now too exhausted to stay up long. Link tried to fire an arrow, but he couldn't pull back on the bowstring. Fox and Falco were both too tired to fire their guns. Only Ganondorf was strong enough to get back up. He turned to Tabuu. He hoped he could get Tabuu to use too much energy, even if that meant sacrificing himself. He ran as fast as he could and began swinging. Tabuu simply dodged. Ganondorf tried to stab Tabuu. Tabuu kicked Ganondorf to the ground. Ganondorf staggered to his feet. He charged Tabuu again and tackled him. Tabuu threw Ganondorf into a wall. Ganondorf tried to get up again, but he fell back over. Tabuu raised his hand and blast Ganondorf with a small energy ball. Despite the size, it was enough to kill him.

Tabuu walked over to Sonic. He raised his hand to do the same thing again, but something nailed him in the back. Link was sitting up, holding his Slingshot. Tabuu walked towards Link as he fired more and more. Tabuu swatted the next shot away. He kicked the slingshot out of Link's hand and raised his hand again.

Then he froze. He turned slowly to see Fox holding one of Pit's knives. He reached behind his back and found the other knife's hilt. His arm started shaking as he raised it toward Fox. Fox threw the other knife as Link rolled a bomb by Tabuu's legs. After the bomb exploded, Tabuu shook even more violently. He tried something, but what he got was small, barely went anywhere, and then fizzled out.

Tabuu quickly reached up toward his head. The top of it began to cave in. A column of white hand shot out. He began to crack more and more. Slowly, his arm fell off. His arm had been replace by a long ray of light It was followed by his other arm. His right leg crumbled next. When he fell, his back and left leg shattered. Tabuu started screaming as his chest fell apart. Only his neck and head remained. The light grew brighter as Tabuu's ears cracked. All at once, his head collapsed, and the light disappeared.

Fox reached out his hand and helped Link up. They went around and helped the others. They went to Pit and helped him get off the rocks. They took other to the side of the vault next to Dr. Mario. Bowser and Falco eventually were strong enough that they could help Link and Fox. Bowser brought Titania and her horse back before he collapsed again.

Link, Fox, and Falco climbed up the stairs and helped the four who had been resting up there down. They then went up to carry Toon Link's body down. They were surprised when they realized Toon Link's body was gone. They searched for Ganondorf's body, but it was gone as well.

Fox called Peppy Hare. "We did it. Tabuu's dead. Send some people so we can get out of here."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Aftermath

Note: Before I get started with this chapter, make sure to read the end message after reading the end of this chapter.

The smashers surveyed the battlefield after they had returned. A few small battles were still going on, but the subspace army had been almost completely destroyed. With Tabuu gone, the army became dysfunctional. The smashers helped anywhere they found fighting. A few went to Master and Crazy Hand, who were beginning to recover. They explained what happened, as well as telling them about the six that died.

Link, Ike, and Sonic discovered their friends were all fine despite facing Tabuu. Link suddenly heard someone say, "Link, I need to talk to you." Link turned and saw Tetra march towards him. "I have looked everywhere for Toon Link, and anytime I ask about him, people walk away. Where is he?" Link started backing away until tetra pulled out her knife. "No more games. Now answer my question. Where is he?"

Link sighed. "Did you notice how there was a particular clone being targeted?" Tetra nodded. "It was to end Tabuu's supply of soldiers. Toon Link killed the last one. While he was enraged, Tabuu killed Toon Link. His body has somehow mysteriously disappeared."

Tetra dropped the knife and shook her head. "No. No, it can't be true." Tetra ran off shouting for Toon Link.

Link sighed as he helped a wounded Rusl. They walked over to where Master Hand was. Others had gathered as Marth tried to explain what happened. Marth saw Link and pointed to him. "He knows. He was the one that figured it out."

They turned toward Link. "What caused Tabuu to literally fall apart?" Master Hand asked.

"Uh," Link began. "Well, I think that the reason he was still incredibly powerful was because he had been able to take your energy." He motioned towards Master and Crazy Hand. "He still had access to the power he stole before releasing you. What he lost was the ability to contain that power. When it was too much for him. He collapsed in on himself."

Master Hand nodded. "Then I suppose we should clear this field. Lets see if we can find anyone else that is alive on this field. After that, I will personally carry the dead to their portals.

* * *

The work took hours to do. The actual battlefield went on for miles. Ships that crashed were found even further off. Master Hand was very slow in taking the dead. He was joined by Crazy and eventually all the other smashers. When all the work was done, it was approaching night time. Most of the people went back to their own worlds. Others such as Shadow and Andross left as well. A few that had no part in smash world, however, stayed with the smashers at smash mansion. They were people that wanted to comfort friends or be around when they got the chance to officially say goodbye.

Two days passed since Tabuu's defeat. Some, such as Tetra, tried to come up with ways to remember their lost friends. Others tried not to show their grief. Others never seemed to be happy again. The last condition was best exhibited by Nana, Ness, and Pikachu. They all grieved for the people they lost. Lucas tried his best to cheer them up, but nothing he did helped. Later on the second day, Lucas tried to get Nana to cheer up. "I know you lost your brother," he said. "But you have to get over it."

Nana looked at Popo. "Did anyone ever tell you about the torture Tabuu put me through?" Lucas nodded. "I had originally thought that it was the worst I had ever felt and would ever feel. However, ever since Popo died, I have felt even worse than that pain I experienced. Tabuu's torture is nothing compared to losing Popo."

Lucas later went down to the kitchen to get a snack that night. He realized Nana, Ness, and Pikachu were in the exact same spots they had been sitting in since that morning. They each murmured something different things in their sleep. Ness said Dedede, Nana said Popo, and Pikachu said something that would translate to Samus.

Diddy Kong also isolated himself. He hid in the forest and only came for food. Bowser was awfully lonely. He was being treated better since Tabuu was defeated, but he was all by himself in the villains section of the mansion. (Meta Knight was allowed to move out of their after Tabuu's first attack).

The smashers were also harrased by friends of those who had died. Anytime Tetra talked to a smasher, it ended in her telling that smasher that he (or she) should have died instead of Toon Link.

As they approached exactly seven days after Wario and Dedede's death, Dr. Mario announced he had something important to say. He gathered all of the smashers and others into one room. Dr. Mario then said, "Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and-a I think we might-a have a way to bring-a back those who died." Everyone started talking amongst themselves. "The-a reason people Tabuu killed disappeared after they-a had died was because they-a were changed into-a smash energy. If-a we can access that-a energy, then we-a should be able to bring them back-a to life."

"Why didn't you just bring them all back to life instead of announcing it?" Bowser said.

"Because I-a have to steal the energy from-a Master Hand and Crazy Hand, and they only have-a enough energy to bring four-a back to life. Also, it appears as-a if all the dead smashers will-a all be gone in-a three hours, exactly seven-a days after Wario died."

* * *

Tetra started arguing with Dr. Mario. "You have to bring Toon Link back. He is the reason the vault can't be opened anymore."

"There-a ten others that-a also lost their lives, Toon Link doesn't have much of a chance."

"He is the holder of the triforce of courage."

"But he didn't help the first time," Ness said as he walked over. "Dedede is the reason that we were able to stop Tabuu."

"Popo also helped," Nana said. "He's also a child smasher and my brother, not just another friend."

"You and your brother did absolutely nothing."

"The same goes for you. You were only helpful because Dedede saved you."

"More of a reason to bring him back."

"Oh-oh-ah-ah," Diddy Kong said.

"Donkey Kong wasn't a major part." Meta Knight said. "Lucario and Snake were. They rescued my ship."

"Your ship wasn't important," Nana said.

"My ship was used as a major weapon by Tabuu, and it was used every time we went to face the subspace. Those two were more important than any of the others."

"Pika Pik Pika," Pikachu said.

"Oh-ah-oh," Diddy Kong said.

"And Captain Falcon sabotaged the subspace bomb factory as well," Bowser said. "That doesn't mean Samus, Donkey Kong, and Captain Falcon should all be brought back. What about what recently happened? Ganondorf and Wolf both had major roles in taking Tabuu down."

"They were the ones that let him gain his power," Meta Knight said.

"He gained his power from what he stole from the Hands," Bowser said.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand entered the room now. "We have decided that the only people that will participate in the decision will be people who are not originals and have no major connection to the dead," Master Hand said.

Crazy Hand pulled out a scroll. "The following with help with the decision: Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Pit, Red, Ike, Peach, Sonic, R.O.B., Olimar, Lucas, Dr. Mario, Mewtwo, Pichu, Roy, Little Mac, and Isaac."

The smashers who had their names called entered the room. The others continued to argue. Tetra banged on the door and shouted, "You better bring Toon Link back."

Link and Fox watched as everything happened. When Link sighed, Fox asked, "What is it?"

"The villains don't really have a chance. They all think that what they did should automatically disqualify them, but they deserve a chance."

* * *

The arguing on the other side of the door was starting to get just as intense as it was outside. "Based on the influence of their help, Samus would be the best choice for one person to bring back," R.O.B. said.

"Dedede had the most influence in the last one," Pit said. "To make an influence in this last one, you either had to be one of the five, or lucky enough you were saved."

"But we can't just choose them based on worth," Peach said. She pointed toward the door. "There are people on the other side of the door that lost friends in the last battle. We should consider how others would feel if they're friend, or even family, wasn't one of the people brought back."

"Everyone is going to suffer because of how many people died," Isaac said. "People will be angry with us, no matter who we save."

"Then we do save who most deserves it," Roy said.

"We can't base it on one thing," Red said.

"Then what do we base it on?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Red said.

The room remained silent for a while. Eventually, Master Hand speaks. "It seems like we can't make the decision." Master Hand then turns to you. "So we need you to make it."

* * *

Okay, so here's how it works. The next update will depend on how much people vote and how quickly I reach a certain number. Everyone gets two votes for who their first and second choices are. I will also vote, but I won't put my vote on here. The four smashers that receive the highest number of votes will be brought back to life in the finale.

Also, there is a bit of trivia in my story. Sonic says a certain line twice in this story. The quote is, "I have no master, except for the wind that blows free." The first person who tells me which Sonic game that came from gets their votes counted twice.

The final thing is for my next major story. I have an idea for a plot and the two main characters, but I need another three characters to go with the first two. You can say how ever many of the choices below you want. I also am taking only one character with a * next to it. Here are the choices:

Bowser*

Captain Falcon*

Donkey Kong

Falco

Ganondorf*

Jigglypuff*

King Dedede

Lucario*

Mr. Game & Watch

Pikachu*

Red*

R.O.B.

Toon Link*

Wario

Wolf*

Yoshi

So, vote for who should be brought back to life, try to identify the origins of the quote, and tell me which characters should be in my next major story. The eleven dead are the following: Wario, King Dedede, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Snake, Toon Link, Lucario, Popo, Samus, Wolf, Ganondorf.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Endings

Link sifted through the remains of Tabuu. He had been almost completely destroyed. The pieces were similar to glass. Most pieces were too small to be recognizable as any part of Tabuu. Only one piece was still together. Tabuu's face was still frozen in the scream he let out before finally dieing. When Link had first discovered it, he screamed and tried destroying it. He tried many things, but nothing he tried had any affect on the face. He couldn't even chip small pieces off of the side.

Link also examined the vault. He could see scorch marks from bombs and flames. It took Link a little to realize he was the last smasher that had explosives. Even Wario's explosive farts were gone.

"Link." Link pulled a communicator from his pocket. Fox had given it to Link so he could know when they were bringing back the four dead smashers. "They have decided. Dr. Mario will bring out the smashers that are being brought back to life soon."

"I'm coming," Link said. He looked around for a little. "Midna."

"Yes?"

"How close can you get me to the mansion?"

Midna smiled. She turned Link into a wolf. She then transported the two so they were only a few yards away from the mansion. Link turned to look at the mansion. "Is this close enough?" Link turned back to Midna and was surprised when he saw she was back to her true form. Midna smiled at the look of surprise. "Today was the sixth day."

Link was about to say something, but the doors swung open to reveal Sonic. He turned back in and shouted, "Found him! It was really difficult!" Link laughed as he ran into the mansion. He was excited to see who they decided to bring back.

All the others had gathered in front of the infirmary. The hall was crowded. Eventually, they were allowed into a waiting room that was inside. They were surprised to see Dr. Mario was the one to let them in instead of Master or Crazy Hand. They all found spots to wait. Some, the ones really attached to a dead smasher, sat directly in front of the door Dr. Mario went back into. Dr. Mario emerged from the room again. "I am-a ready to-a show you who we-a decided to bring back for-a a second life."

* * *

A week had passed since Tabuu's defeat. In honor of the smashers that weren't brought back, they decided to make statues of them in front of the mansion. They were each made and enchanted so they would last forever. The first statue put up was Wario. He was put on the arch of the mansion entrance. He was riding his motorcycle and smiling his huge grin. Everyone there made sure that Wario was acknowledged for the good that he had done. Waluigi sighed as he sat down and leaned against the base. On the base of the statue, there was a bit of an epitaph. Wario's read, "Wario: The first of the smashers to fall at the hands of Tabuu. He did not fall because of trickery. He fell because he was willing to stand up for others at the time they needed it the most."

* * *

Dr. Mario turned back to the door. He gave one knock and stood back. The door opened, and a small boy came out. Nana rushed forward and shouted, "POPO!" Popo was slammed against the doors as Nana tackled him. He was laughing and trying to comfort his sister as she started crying. Everyone began cheering.

Popo whispered something to Nana. Nana smiled at Popo as she was able to gain some composure. Popo walked over to Dr. Mario. He hugged the doctor and said, "Thank you." Popo smiled at everyone as he went to sit with Nana further back from where she had originally been sitting. They were all happy for them, but some of them were worried. With one spot taken, they were closer to losing their friend.

* * *

Donkey Kong was the next one to have his statue put up. He was sitting on the base and pounding his bongos. The smashers again made sure to say and remember the good things he had done. When they were finished, most of them left. Diddy Kong stayed and cried at the feet of the statue. He read the inscription at the bottom of the statue multiple times. "Donkey Kong: One of the original smashers. He was more willing to fight Tabuu rather than fight a friend, even when it was riskier to fight Tabuu."

* * *

Dr. Mario waited until everyone had settled down again. He eventually decided he couldn't wait for Popo and Nana to settle down. He turned back to the door and knocked twice. The door opened again and another small boy emerged, this one dressed in green. Toon Link smiled and waved his hand at everyone. Tetra got up and hugged Toon Link. "It's so good to see you again," she said.

Toon Link hugged her back. "Don't worry. I'm back."

They began cheering again, but it was interrupted by Waluigi. "Hey, doc, what are you trying to do? We all know that there are only two more that are coming out of there. Why are torturing us by bringing them out one at a time?"

Dr. Mario looked at Waluigi. "I'm-a worried how some of you might react if I tell-a you right off the back who made it and-a who didn't. I think this-a is a way to break it to-a you slowly."

"Well I don't like it," Waluigi said. "I want you to tell me right now. Did you decide to bring Wario back to life or not?"

Dr. Mario looked around the room at everyone staring at him. He sighed and said, "No."

Waluigi looked shocked. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?! HE GAVE HIS LIFE IN AN ATTEMPT TO STAND UP FOR PIPSQUEEKS LIKE MARIO!" Waluigi stormed out of the room cursing.

They all watched Waluigi, making them all even more nervous about who would be the next to emerge. Falco stood up. "Dr. Mario, I want to know. Did Captain Falcon get chosen?"

Dr. Mario shook his head. Falco gave a weak smile and nodded as he sat back down. The smasher's all brought their attention back to the closed door.

* * *

Captain Falcon's statue was put up next to Donkey Kong's. Diddy Kong was still crying at the time it was put up, but no one seemed to mind. Captain Falcon was posed, saluting to the smashers looking back at him. They said goodbye and went to leave. Falco, however stayed and read the epitaph. "Captain Falcon: One of the original smashers. He also wasn't willing to fight a friend. Tabuu killed him because of that." Falco looked around to make sure that no one was around. Diddy Kong was too focused on the Donkey Kong statue to notice what Falco was doing. Most of the others were helping put up the next statue. Falco pulled out a small knife and bent down to the base. He worked for several minutes and it was barely legible, but Falco knew what he wrote. A few others were able to read the words, "Thank you for saving my life."

Dr. Mario knocked three times, and the door opened again. Everyone was shocked to see who came out. Wolf grinned at the shocked expressions on everyone's face, "Didn't expect that, did you."

Fox got out of his seat and shook Wolf's hand. "I'm glad to have you back."

Wolf started laughing. "You voted to bring me back, right?"

"Actually, we weren't allowed to vote in case our votes were biased for you."

"Or against you," Falco said from his seat. Fox glanced at Falco, who was smiling back.

Wolf and Fox went to sit down. Dr. Mario approached to knock on the door, but he stopped when Link said, "Wolf is going to be the only villain, isn't he."

Dr. Mario slowly turned toward Link. He shrugged his shoulders. Ness looked back and forth between the doctor and Link. Ness started to become nervous. He finally spoke up by saying, "Your just talking about the ones that helped Tabuu, right?" Dr. Mario sighed as he knocked four times. Ness got closer to the door, along with Pikachu and Diddy Kong. Slowly, the door opened

* * *

Snake stared down at the smashers. His fists were clenched with one of them holding a grenade. The statue they made for him included every single weapon he had used during the Brawl tournaments. They all made sure to thank him for the help he had provided while he fought Tabuu. The base said, "Snake: One of the strongest fighters that was ever brought to fight. He fought hard to save others and gave his life to save another."

The last to go was Sonic. He smiled as he looked at the statue. He said, "Thank you. I'm pretty sure you can't hear me, but I don't think I can write on the base like Falco did. If you can hear me, I would like to thank you for saving my life. I'm not trying to sound arrogant, but I think you saved all of us by saving me." He smiled and started walking away. He stopped when he focused on the clenched fist. He smiled as he made his own fist. He tapped the fists together and said, "Brofist."

* * *

They all waited to see who it would be that would come through the door. A few seconds seemed to stretch on forever. It all ended as they saw the hand that grabbed the door to open it the rest of the way.

Pikachu cheered as Samus came out in her suit. Pikachu jumped onto Samus, nearly knocking her down. Pikachu hugged Samus the best she could. Samus returned the hug. They all cheered and congratulated the two of them. All of them, except Diddy Kong and Ness. No one seemed to notice as Dr. Mario approached the door again and knocked five times.

* * *

Lucario's statue was put up close to Snake's. He had been created so his eyes were glowing with aura and he was holding an aura sphere. After the smashers said their nice things, they went to put up the final two statues. Meta Knight stayed and looked at the Snake and Lucario statues. He said, "I would like to thank both of you. Hopefully Sonic was wrong when he said you couldn't hear him speak. I need to tell you that I am truly thankful to the both of you for helping me retake the Halberd, not just once, but twice. I would also like to say that I have considered both of you great friends ever since that day."

Meta Knight reread Snake's inscription before going back to Lucario's. His said, "Lucario: He was the first one saved in the process of reuniting the smashers. He was important in freeing captured smashers from the mist. His sacrifice was very important to achieving victory."

* * *

An angry Diddy Kong left the room cursing about as much as Waluigi had. Ness started to cry as everyone else continued to congratulate Samus and Pikachu. Ness covered his eyes to try to prevent others from seeing him cry. Someone's hand touched Ness's shoulder and said, "Everything will be alright."

Ness tried to stop sobbing as he said, "My best friend here is now gone forever. How is everything alright?"

The cheering had suddenly become quiet. "Well, I can see how everything might not be alright, but before you say you friend is gone forever, you might want to open your eyes."

Ness slowly opened them to see shocked expressions on everyone else's faces. They all seemed to be staring at the person with his hand on Ness's shoulder. Ness turned to see King Dedede smiling down on him. Smiling, Ness jumped up to hug Dedede while shouting, "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

Ness was surprised when his hug caught nothing but air, and he passed straight through Dedede. Ness turned back toward King Dedede. He realized that he seemed to be just air. Dedede frowned. "I'm afraid I'm not alive."

"Nope. We've only been given a little more time to say our last goodbyes." They all turned towards the door that the smashers that had been brought back to life had come through. Phasing through the door was Ganondorf.

The only person that didn't seem to be surprised was Dr. Mario. Luigi looked at Dr. Mario. "What's-a going on?"

"Master Hand and-a Crazy Hand still-a had power left over. They-a used that power to bring King Dedede and Ganondorf back-a to life. We-a explained to them what we-a were giving them time to say goodbye. After we-a explained, we-a told them they were going to fade out so they could have time to think about what they wanted to say."

"The power they used to bring us back put them into a coma," Ganondorf said. "We use up even more energy if we make it possible for physical contact. The more areas we are tangible, the more energy it exhausts." He looked at King Dedede. "Do you want to go first?"

"Master Hand was able to give you less energy than Crazy gave me," King Dedede said.

Ganondorf nodded. He breathed in deeply before he began. "The first thing I want to do is thank you. Despite my nature as a villain, I have grown to think as some of you as friends. I have also become a bit less villainous. While I do admit I chose to help Tabuu, I would never have gone to seek a way to dominate.

"The next thing I want to do is apologize. I did willingly help in an attempt to destroy you all the first time out of evil intent. I also dragged Wolf into helping Tabuu. If I had been willing to just die then, I might have been able to stop all of this before it began. I am responsible for everyone that died.

"The final thing I want to do is apologize to those I have hurt personally." The first person he went to was Wolf. "I am sorry for dragging you into all of this. You were the only person that I considered a friend, and I betrayed that trust."

Wolf smiled. "I betrayed my friends as well. You shouldn't apologize when I did exactly what you did."

Ganondorf returned Wolf's smile and turned to Toon Link and Tetra. "I know what I did in your timeline, and I would like to ask for your forgiveness as well."

Tetra was about to say something, but Toon Link held up his hand to stop her. He turned to Ganondorf and said, "We forgive you."

Tetra shoved Toon Link's hand away from her face. "I was going to say that," she said as she punched Toon Link.

Ganondorf went to Zelda. "I have done many horrible things to your kingdom. I hope you-"

"You don't need to ask," Zelda said. "I was worried that you are only doing this because you will soon be gone permanently, but you apologized to Wolf. Relatively, what you did to him was rather small. If you are asking for an apology from someone you consider a friend, then you really are sincere in your apologies. I forgive you."

Ganondorf let out a sigh of relief before turning to Midna. "I am also responsible for the horrible things that happened to your kingdom. It may have been Zant that did it, but he did it through my power. I could have stopped him at anytime, but I let him cause havoc. I even let him curse your people. I'm not sure that what I have done to Zelda is as bad as what I did to you, but I'm begging you to accept my apology."

The twilight princess stared at Ganondorf. "I may not be able to. The effects of what you did have had repercussions. You saw what the remnant of your power has done. I was changed back into my imp form. The others were changed into the shadow beasts again. I'm sorry, but I cannot accept it."

Ganondorf nodded. "I'm sorry for what I've done. But there is nothing I can do now to change it. If you choose not to accept my apology, I will have to accept that." He turned to Link.

"I'm sorry," Link said. It stunned everyone in the room to hear Link begin apologizing. Ganondorf seemed the most shocked out of all of them. "I have given you the cold shoulder ever since the Melee tournaments. I have tried to accept you, but I never was able to get over you helping Tabuu. Because of that, I made you a bit of an outcast. You don't need to apologize, you've already done enough of that. If you feel like you need me to accept an apology, I already have. Now I need to know if you accept mine."

Ganondorf reached out a hand and put it on Link's shoulder. Instead of passing through, it became tangible and stayed there. "I accept your apology." He smiled at everyone there. He turned to King Dedede. "I hope you will be willing to accept my apologies," he said. "As well as what remains of my energy."

"Thank you," King Dedede said. Ganondorf stretched out a hand toward Dedede. A yellow beam of light connected the two of them. The light slowly began to grow weaker. As it did, Ganondorf's image began to disappear.

"Wait, Ganondorf." Ganondorf dropped his hand and turned to Midna. Midna paused for a little before saying, "Zant was consumed by hatred towards me because I gained the power he wanted. If I want to avoid destroying myself, I will have to get past any hatred. I forgive you, and I want your forgiveness for initially refusing."

Ganondorf smiled as he raised his hand again. He seemed to be relieved. The last thing he said before disappearing was, "I forgive you, Midna."

People were a little depressed now that they had to say goodbye to Ganondorf. King Dedede sighed as he began to speak. "I guess it's my turn. I have to say that I may have always had some evil in me, but this tournament has affected me as well. I have also noticed that my selfishness has slowly been disappearing. I may have done a few bad things here and there, but I am better than when I came.

"I also would like to apologize. I haven't done anything diabolical here, but I have done things to hurt people. Kirby." He motioned for Kirby to come forward. When he did, Dedede began speaking again. "I need to apologize for what I've done to Dream Land. Can you let the other inhabitants know?"

"Po." Kirby said.

Dedede smiled. "Good." He turned to Ness, who had started to cry again. "Now I need to talk to you. I know that you took losing me badly. Based on the last few seconds, you must have been devastated when you found out."

"I didn't find out," Ness said. "I watched it happen. I saw Tabuu shoot you. I even heard you screams."

Dedede gave Ness a puzzled look. "I never screamed. Tabuu wanted to watch me suffer, so I decided he wouldn't get to see my pain. He shouted out in an effort to make me expose my pain."

"It's true," Fox said. "I watched the whole thing."

Dedede smiled at Fox before turning back to Ness. "I was not going to let somebody like him have power over me. Even when he had power over whether I would die or live, I fought him."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ness asked.

Dedede picked Ness up and set him on his lap. "Because I know when I'm gone, you'll have a choice. You can go back to what you were like, grieving and thinking about the fact that I'm gone forever, or you can know that I died believing I was doing everything I can to make things right. You'll have a choice as to whether or not you are going to enjoy the life others died trying to help give you, or you can throw away their sacrifices. If you continue grieving, you'll grow bitter and ruin the wonderful life you have. Everyone here will try to help, but it's up to you if you want to be miserable or happy. I want you to be happy. Can you do that for me?"

Ness breathed deeply and finally got the tears to stop. "I'll try."

"That's not good enough. I need to know you will be happy. Will you do that for me."

Ness hesitated for a few seconds. He looked straight at Dedede and nodded. "I will."

Dedede smiled. "Thank you." He hugged Ness and patted him on the back. Ness returned the hug. The others slowly began to leave. They slowly all left. It eventually was just Ness, Dedede, Kirby, Sonic, and Link. Link had been thinking about what had been said by Ganondorf and Dedede. Sonic stayed because he knew he would be needed when Dedede was gone.

Ness made sure to continue hugging Dedede as long as he could. He noticed that he seemed to slowly be approaching the ground. Dedede's legs disappeared first. When it reached King Dedede's chest, ness's feet touched the floor. Dedede smiled one last time and whispered in Ness's ear. "Farewell, my dear friend."

Ness began crying again as he said, "Goodbye." Then, all at once, Dedede was gone. Ness fell on his knees and began to cry.

Sonic knelt down and began comforting Ness. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright." Kirby had come over and was hugging Ness

Link got up from where he had been watching. He also knelt down by Ness. "It's okay to be sad. What's important is getting over that sadness." Link helped Ness out of there and to a place he would be more comfortable. When Sonic, Kirby, and the Ice Climbers began comforting Ness again, Link left.

* * *

The final two statues, Ganondorf's and King Dedede's, were put up together at exactly the same time. They were on both sides of the entrance so that anyone that entered would see the two of them. They had Ganondorf with his sword held out and Dedede holding his hammer out. They both smiled at the person that stood in the entryway. The smiles they gave were not menacing. They were more like the kind used to greet a person. The most time was spent on celebrating what the two of them did. They also talked about how special their last words were. Unlike the other statues, people didn't just move on once everything was over. They made sure to stay. They eventually did leave, but it happened very slowly. By the time the majority had gone in, the sun was setting.

Link and Ness were the last two to leave. They were both eventually able to memorize the inscriptions. "What does Ganondorf's say?" Ness asked.

Link turned to Ness. "What?"

"The inscription. What does it say?"

Link said, "Oh." Before laughing a little. He looked straight at Ness and said, "Ganondorf: Despite helping Tabuu initially, it was his efforts that saved all hope. He was able to find a way to make Tabuu surrender his power. His last wish was to try and fix all he had done wrong." Link paused for a little. "What about Dedede's?"

Ness didn't bother looking down. "King Dedede: Hero of the first suspace emissary. Despite Tabuu's control over him, he wasn't afraid to stand against Tabuu. His last wish was to have people enjoy what his and the other smasher's sacrifices had given them."

Link smiled and went back to looking at the Ganondorf statue. "Will you keep your promise?"

Ness turned to look at Link. "It will take time, but yes, I do intend to keep my promise."

"Good." Link smiled as he turned to enter the mansion.

* * *

Ness was able to keep his promise. Within a few weeks, he was back to being happy. Others were also able to get back to enjoying their lives at the mansion. Samus had decided to decorate the lounge with Tabuu's head as a trophy. It freaked out Ness and Nana, so it had to be taken back down. Samus decided to take it back with her to figure out what it was made of.

A downside to the four that had been brought back was that they couldn't leave. The amount of smash energy that had been needed to bring them back was so much that they were locked in the smash world for a year. It didn't bother the Ice Climbers, who had decided to stay there permanently, along with others such as R.O.B. and Mr. Game & Watch, but the other three really wanted to return home. During that time, the Star Fox team was able to get many missions done without being harrased by Star Wolf. When Wolf brought Star Wolf back into business, he wasn't able to start off with honest work because of its reputation. He did, however, limit the amount of illegal work he did.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand were both able to recover one month after they had given Dr. Mario the energy he needed to do everything. They were able to get one last tournament to happen before people began talking about leaving. To everyone's surprise, Peach won. After the tournament ended, Master Hand asked which smashers wanted to stay and which wanted to go.

While some were willing to stay, others felt as if they should be returning home. Among them was Link. He was one of the first to depart, only beaten by Meta Knight and Sonic. The day he packed up to leave, Fox went to say goodbye to Link. "I hope this is temporary."

"Until I feel like I can return without leaving unfinished business."

"Well, until then, I'll miss kicking you around."

"Toon Link's got another eight months to go before he can leave; I'm sure he'll be enough."

Fox laughed as the began walking to the main door. "So, have you gotten over what Tabuu's done."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Eleven of the smashers died and seven of them won't get another chance. Thousands died in one battle, including many from your world."

"I don't really have much of a choice."

"Of course you have a choice."

"I mean, if I want to be able to do what I want to do in Hyrule, I have to accept everything that has happened to me. That includes what has happened here?" Link opened the door and walked out. He stopped in front of the Ganondorf statue. "What Dedede said shouldn't just apply to him. It's something we all need to do."

Fox smiled. "I'll see you when you return."

"And I won't have forgotten what you said about kicking me around." Fox laughed as he closed the door. Link turned and left the mansion. As Link left, he went to each of the seven statues. When Link started entering the woods in front of the mansion, he said to himself, "It'll be good to go home."

THE END

* * *

Thank you for reading my fanfiction. I would like to also thank those who participated in voting. The results surprised me, but I enjoy how they affected the ending. I will be sure to get my next story, Forgotten, updated. In case you're curious what the votes ended up being, here they are:

Popo: 5*

Toon Link: 3

Wolf: 2

Samus: 2

Ganondorf: 1

King Dedede: 1*

They were the only ones to get votes. Also, a * means I cast a vote for that person. Congratulations to Terra Booma for getting the trivia question. So be sure to tell me what you thought of the ending and then also check out some of my other stories.


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